


A Feather Wrought of Gold

by traptrixnepenthes



Category: Future Card Buddyfight
Genre: Gen, Murder Mystery, no ships bc all i wanna do is write a frickin, oc + canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-01-08 06:31:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 28,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12248886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traptrixnepenthes/pseuds/traptrixnepenthes
Summary: A young girl named Kayazuki Neon finds her dead body on the floor of her apartment after awakening from a dream that claimed to give her a verdict--one that would have granted her passage to the afterlife. Brought back by the whims of a powerful being called Avalon, Neon now remains on Earth as a ghost--and she's determined to figure out why she's dead, and just who exactly did the deed.(it's buddyfight! it's a murder mystery! it's me using what would be a great original work idea on a buddyfight fic! as additional characters are introduced the character tags will be updated! please read, and i hope you enjoy it!)





	1. Chapter 1

“Kayazuki Neon.”  


Neon flinched in her seat. She was in...something like a courtroom, she supposed, although she’d never been in one before. It seemed too big to be a courtroom anyways, with the walls simply fading off into brightness, but everything else was just close enough to seem normal. At one of the attorney benches--she didn’t know which one, the defense or the prosecutor’s--there was a very tall, very pale man in dark clothes. His hair was silver and seemed to float about him like mist, fading away into nothing, and he had a wide-brimmed hat that obscured most of his face from her view. On the other side, there was...a dragon. A white dragon in armor and an elegant white dress that looked like it was meant for someone in the military, with four white, feathered wings on her back. The man had introduced himself as Damian, and the dragon had introduced herself as Charuthea. Across the room from where Neon sat was where a judge was supposed to be, but that seat was empty. There wasn’t any room for jurors, which made this a little less nerve-wracking.

“Your judgment has concluded. Damian…” Charuthea looked to the man across the room. “Do you have any objections with the verdict?”

“No.” The man’s voice was so soft she had to strain to hear it. “But now that we’ve come this far, I have to ask. Why did Avalon--”

“ _Master_ Avalon,” Charuthea corrected, her attention now pointed at a pile of paper on her bench. She had a feather pen, and was scratching signatures off on them. Paperwork?

“Oh, _please_ forgive me. Do you know why our illustrious Master Avalon decided to have a full hearing held for this _child_?” Damian said it derisively, and Neon was starting to really not like him. Or Charuthea, for that matter. “At her paltry age--”

“Master Gagalgarios didn’t object to it.”

“Master Gagalgarios isn’t _coherent_.”

“Damian, if you’re just going to--”

“Excuse me, “ Neon interrupted, and then immediately regretted it. Charuthea and Damian both turned to her, and their eyes were so intense she thought she was going to melt. “Before you start arguing like I’m not right here, can you tell me what my verdict is?”

Verdict. Verdict for what? She’d just asked for it herself, but Neon just couldn’t quite remember.

Damian laughed, more like a whisper than anything else. “The child is right. Kayazuki Neon, despite minor infractions, your judgment has revealed--”

Charuthea cut him off. “You are permitted entry to Paradise.”

“Yes,” Damian said, flicking another glare across the room, “because despite what your teachers told you, stealing a candy bar or two isn’t enough to get you sent to Hell.”

To Paradise...to heaven, right? “Looking over your life, it’s not like you did much,” Charuthea said, back to her paperwork already. “It was a foregone conclusion that this was how it’d turn out.”

A third voice rang out, but this time, Neon couldn’t see who it belonged to. “Is that so, Charuthea?” It was deep, almost deep enough to rattle her bones. While Damian and Charuthea had at least sounded mostly human, this new voice was anything but.

“Master Avalon.” Where? There wasn’t anyone else in the room but the three of them, but Charuthea didn’t even bother looking up from what she was working on. “Have I gotten my verdict wrong _again_ because of your meddling?”

“Not incorrect,” the voice rumbled, sounding like far-off thunder on a sunny summer day, “merely...inadequate. I have decided to grant a gift to this child.”

Dragon faces weren’t all that good at expressing emotions, but Charuthea’s frustration was still clear as day. “Of course you have. And what would you grant her, Master Avalon? A second chance? Is she your new excuse to avoid your paperwork?” Damian was now sitting on his desk, his job clearly over, and he was perfectly content to watch the show. “She has no latent potential that would warrant this kind of thing. Nothing in her potential future says she would be of any particular worth. What possible reason could you have for this?”

“I’m still here,” Neon said as loudly as she could, and Damian laughed again. “In case you were wondering, I can hear every single word you’re saying about me.”

“My decision is absolute!” This time, the voice was forceful enough that it shook Neon in her seat. “This child was taken before her time, and I am returning with her, to expedite her process. Am I understood?”

Charuthea grumbled something too softly for Neon to hear, and then set her pen aside and looked up. “Understood, Master Avalon. I will continue taking care of your duties in your absence. So no change from how things normally are.”

Something icy cold pierced the back of Neon’s neck, and then she woke up.

She was...in her room. Laying on the floor. Jeez, had she collapsed or something? Sure, soccer practice was being more exhausting than usual, but if it was being enough to knock her out like that, she was going to have to talk to her coach. Neon sat up and stretched, feeling stiff after having apparently taken a nap on the floor, and stood up--judging by how dark it was outside, she hadn’t really napped for long, which was a good thing. There was a test this week, and her sleep schedule getting messed up wasn’t going to do her any favors.

Neon glanced down to smooth her shirt and froze.

At her feet was a body. It was wearing the same clothes as she was--the same white shorts, the same long candy-striped socks, the same soft blue _Taylor Dragon_ t-shirt she’d had to hunt down from an overseas seller. It had her same dark eyes, same dark skin, same dark hair braided over its shoulder, even the same little star-shaped charm on the hair tie, but the body was splayed awkwardly, painfully, and different from Neon, it was very clearly, very unmistakably dead. The eyes were glassy, staring blankly at the ceiling, and there was no subtle rise and fall to the chest--it just laid there, completely lifeless, and didn’t react at all when Neon started screaming.

“Silence, child.”

Neon stumbled and fell back, but on the other side of the body was...something speaking with that same formless voice that had rumbled through her dreams. A small...dragon, maybe? It was white and gold, with a halo behind its weird, beaked head, and...its arms and legs weren’t connected to its body. They just floated there. It looked weird. Almost weird enough to distract her from her own dead body. “Wh-who are you? _What_ are you? What happened to--”

“You are dead, child.” Oh. Wow. Okay. It was a good thing Neon was already on the ground, or she probably would have fallen down again. “I am Avalon, the dragon which guards the gates to Paradise. Do you not recall your judgment?”

“...that was the weird dream I had.” Neon took a deep breath, and then realized she’d had to force the gesture. She...wasn’t breathing normally. So she really was dead. She glanced down at the body lying between them, but looked away again just as quickly. “I’m dead.”

“That is correct.”

“I…” She looked down at her hands. They looked solid enough. “I don’t _feel_ dead.”

“Your presence in my domain is proof enough that you have passed on.”

Neon shoved her face into her hands, scrunching up her eyes so she couldn’t see anything. Her face felt cold.

“There is nothing to be done about this, child.” Avalon’s voice was like thunder in the distance.

“Didn’t you...didn’t you say you were going to give me a second chance? Shouldn’t I have woken up perfectly alive and like...with a body again and stuff?”

Avalon sighed, and it was a surprisingly jarring sound, coming from something so regal. “I’m assuming that’s a bit of a prank from Charuthea, and sadly, there’s nothing I can do about it, now that we’ve returned here.”

Neon didn’t reply. What did it say about everything that apparently the beings in charge of stuff like this thought bringing someone back to life _without a body_ was just a _prank_? She peeked through her fingers and, yep, her body was still lying there on the floor. At least now it was starting to not feel like hers anymore.

“You said…” Her voice caught in her throat. She hadn’t cried yet, but somehow, the fact that she was dead hadn’t really caught up to her yet. “You said in my dream--I mean, in my judgment, that I was taken before my time.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Doesn’t that...mean someone killed me?”

Avalon didn’t say anything for a long time. “That is correct, child.”

“My name isn’t _child_. My name is Kayazuki Neon.” Another deep breath. It was starting to feel a little bit more natural, forcing herself to breathe. She put her hands down and looked across at Avalon. “Do you know who killed me?”

Avalon seemed to shrug, which was impressive, since it didn’t really have shoulders. “Charuthea and Damian were the ones who reviewed your existence. Truthfully, I do not know a single thing about you.” Neon was really starting to understand Charuthea’s frustration with the god. “Tell me about yourself, Neon child.”

Well, at least Avalon finally had her name down. And it was...trying, at least. “My name is Kayazuki Neon, but I already said that. I’m...twelve years old, and I’m a sixth grader at Aibo Academy. I live here alone.” She gestured around her room. “Or...used to live here, I guess. My sister sends me money every month for rent and food and stuff. I played soccer at school. Um...I like this show called _Taylor Dragon_.” Neon had to sit back and think for a bit. “I...am not really that interesting of a person.”

“It does not sound particularly like you would have raised someone’s ire enough for them to want to murder you, Neon child.” Avalon tilted its head, and for the first time, Neon realized it didn’t have eyes.

“...that’s true.” The gears started grinding in her head, and a realization smacked Neon in the face-- “Avalon, _I_ don’t know who killed me. I...I can’t remember. That’s something I should be able to remember, right?” She closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could, but the last thing she remembered was changing out of her soccer uniform. She couldn’t remember the walk home, and she certainly didn’t remember who could’ve killed her. “I’m missing...something around twenty minutes. Why can’t I remember?”

“...That is also a mystery. It may be more of Charuthea’s meddling, but I can’t be certain.” Avalon sat down next to the body. “It may simply be a side effect of being returned from death.”

Slowly, very slowly, Neon was getting used to the idea of...being dead. She looked at the body. It still looked like her, there wasn’t escaping that, but the more she looked at it, the more it wasn’t her. It certainly wasn’t _her_ body anymore, at least. It was still eerie looking at a dead body in her own home, though.

“Avalon… I think I know what I want to do with this second chance.”

“What is it?”

“I’m going to figure out who killed me, and why.” Neon gestured at the body between them. “And I’m gonna start by examining this, I guess, so can you go sit on my bed or something while I try to figure out how I died.”

Avalon floated straight up, not changing position even a little, and hovered over the body. “I believe it was a poisoning.”

“And what makes you think _that_ , huh?” Although… Neon crept a little closer, and ignoring the ghastly look on its face, it was true that it didn’t look like there were any major wounds. No blood on the clothing, no bloodstains staining the carpet. She wasn’t...quite ready to try touching the body, to roll it over and check the other side or something, but at least just looking over it said it probably wasn’t something horrifyingly gory.

Avalon pointed to something near the body. “There’s a spilled drink,” it said simply.

Sure enough, on the other side of the body, there was an overturned bottle of soda spilled all over the floor. Neon hadn’t seen it because Avalon had been blocking it with its body. For the first time, her legs felt solid enough for her to stand up again, and she stepped over the body carefully, and knelt down to look at it more closely. “Huh. I don’t even really like this kind of soda. Like, I’ll drink it, but...it’s definitely not what I’d get for myself.”

“So someone else gave it to you.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Neon reached down to pick the bottle up, and her fingers passed through it--straight through it, as if it wasn’t even there. She squeaked and stumbled back again, and now part of her foot was stuck in the body’s thigh, and she couldn’t feel it. “A-Avalon. Why can’t I touch things?”

“I believe I already told you you weren’t granted a body. Is it really that much of a surprise?” Avalon floated back down and picked up the bottle. “You are a ghost, Neon child. In fact, I believe I am the only one who can see, hear, or even touch you. You exist only to me.”

Avalon’s words hit like a slap in the face. “I...I don’t exist?”

“You still exist, child. You think, you feel, you talk, you experience--” Tears that she’d been holding back since she first found out she was dead started welling up. “--but you cannot communicate these things to anyone, except to those who have a deep connection to death. Such as myself.”

When Neon had first found out she was dead, she’d still had this little hope in her heart, that somehow despite everything, things could go back to normal. She could still go to school, talk to her handful of friends, text her sister about how her week had been, watch new episodes of her favorite show--but she couldn’t. None of that was possible. She didn’t even _exist_ anymore.

Tears rolled over her cheeks, and she stared down at the carpet--they fell, hit the ground, and even in the thin light from the sunset, she could see that they had soaked into the carpet. Somehow, impossibly, they were even more real than she was right now.

Avalon floated down to her, and with sharp claws gently wiped tears away. Neon could feel the pressure against her cheeks. “Do not despair, Neon child. Just because others cannot easily feel your presence does not mean you have vanished from the world. Your thoughts and words and emotions still exist. Your presence, while faint, will surely be felt by those around you. And you have me; one whom can function as a connection between the dead and those who are still living.” Avalon’s voice, like the distant thunder and promise of rain it sounded like, was comforting for once. “I will act as your vector, a messenger of your experiences to the world. I will speak your words. Your presence will not be forgotten so easily.”

Slowly, stiffly, Neon reached up and pressed a hand against Avalon. It was...solid. Cold. Smooth, like precious metals. Almost painfully real.

“Take all the time you need, child.”

The sun had slipped all the way out of the sky by the time Neon felt solid enough to look at Avalon directly again. She hadn’t really...wanted to take her hand off of the god, but she took another deep breath--she was getting good at those--and spoke for what felt like the first time in ages.

“I’m still going to do it.”

“Do what?”

“I’m still going to find out who killed me. But...it can’t be for my own sake anymore. Like you said, I’m...barely here, right?” Neon looked out, past Avalon, past the body lying on the floor. “So...I’ll do it for my sister’s sake. She’s bound to be upset when she finds out, right? So...I’ll figure it out for her, so she doesn’t have to worry about it.”

“A noble goal.” Avalon nodded. “I will assist you in this in any way I can, Neon child. You care about your sister very much, don’t you?”

“...she’s my only family. Of course I do.”

Avalon didn’t have facial features to move, but it still managed to look like it raised an eyebrow.

“Our parents died about four years ago, in the Disaster. Our other relatives didn’t really seem to care, and...well. Long story short, my sister got picked up as a professional fighter a little while later, and she’s actually a pretty big name now! She’s got sponsors and a big paycheck, and she’s the reason I can live here like this!” Neon smiled despite herself. She was always proud of her sister’s achievements. “When she first got scouted, she was the youngest professional fighter in the _world_ at only fifteen years old! Now she’s well known and has real fans...some of my friends at school have asked for her autograph, but she rarely has time to come back home.”

“Hm,” Avalon said, and Neon really couldn’t tell if it cared or not. “What is your sister’s name?”

“Shion. Why’re you asking?”

“Her name is on the inside of this bottle.”

Neon sputtered, and then immediately made a grab for the soda bottle Avalon held in its talons--and then watched as her fingers went directly through it again. A chill ran through her, but she shook it off just as quickly. If she was going to be doing a real murder investigation, she couldn’t keep getting upset by reminders that she was the victim. “Show me!”

Avalon tilted the bottle around, and there on the inside of the wrapper was writing. The bottle was still too full to see the whole thing, but it was easy enough to see her sister’s name. Neon circled around, and now that she knew what she was looking for, it was obvious that the wrapper had gotten pulled off and glued back on.

“Can you...can you take the wrapper off? Carefully. Don’t you dare rip it, Avalon.”

“Would you rather do the honors yourself, Neon child?”

Neon scowled. “That was dirty.”

“Forgive me.” Was that sarcasm? Regardless, Avalon carefully worked a claw behind the wrapper and peeled it off without even the slightest tearing. The wrapper fell away, hanging limply, and Neon stared at it.

_Shion, be careful._

The message was written very neatly in permanent marker, and Neon almost would’ve believed it had been printed by a computer if not for little tiny flourishes that could’ve only been made by hand. Someone had bought a bottle of soda, peeled back the label, written the message, glued it back on, poisoned the drink, and then recapped it and given it to Neon. Not because they wanted her dead for anything she had done. They probably didn’t care anything about her at all. It had happened just because she was Shion’s sister.

The room felt like it was spinning, and for a moment Neon was glad she couldn’t hold the bottle; she would’ve dropped it and finished spilling the poisoned soda all over the floor. “Avalon,” she said, eyes still fixed on the writing, “I think...I got caught up in something big.”

“There is more to your sister’s life than it seems,” Avalon agreed. “What could she have done that would inspire someone to kill her sibling?”

Neon was silent. What was she supposed to say to something like that? “...that can’t be right. My sister wouldn’t do anything that bad.”

Now it was Avalon’s turn to be silent. It looked from the bottle to the body and then finally to Neon, and still it said nothing for a long, long time. “As you say.”

“So we have another goal now. Clearing my sister’s name of whatever this freak thinks she did.” Avalon nodded in agreement. “Alright. Okay. Let’s review things. I’m dead.”

“Yes.”

“You brought me back to life, kind of. Someone killed me, and neither of us know who did it. Whoever it was, they poisoned me through the soda you’re holding. And…” Neon’s stomach twisted. “It was to send some sort of message to my sister. That’s everything we know right now, right?”

“I believe so, yes.” Avalon smoothed the wrapper over the soda bottle again, holding it in place. “Did many people know the two of your were siblings, if she’s so well-known?”

“Well...not really, I guess. I mean, I told people as much, but I think even my friends might have thought I was just making it up.” She poked her fingers through the wrapper. This was something she’d have to get used to, wasn’t it? “I mean, we look similar enough, but she can’t come home very often, so I couldn’t ever get them autographs or whatever like they’d ask for, and I never had any good pictures of us together on my phone.”

“Do you have any here? I’m rather interested in learning more about your sister. She’s clearly very important, both to this murder, and to you.”

“She is! Come over here.” Neon stood up, her legs finally feeling solid enough to do so again, and carefully stepped over to her desk. She almost stepped through her body’s head before deciding that’d be too weird, and took a path around it instead. “Here’s one from last winter.”

The photograph sat on her desk on top of a small stack of now-permanently overdue library books. In it, she and Shion were both smiling brightly, and when they were together, it was obvious enough that they were siblings. Same deep, dark eyes. Same beautiful ebony skin. Same dark hair, although Shion had never tried to straighten hers and wore it in long locks that usually got pulled back into a ponytail. But that was where the similarities stopped, in Neon's eyes. Shion was taller by about a foot, for one thing, and her sister's clothes were all dark, compared to Neon's preferred sky blue and white. But the biggest difference, Neon always thought, was in their faces. Shion had sharp features, every inch looking like she'd been dropped into the world by a famous sculptor or something--high cheekbones, a good jawline, all those things that get said about the protagonists of romance novels. She completely looked the part of a prodigy professional fighter: fierce, brave, confident. Compared to her, Neon just looked kind of a bowl of cake batter, soft and smooth.

Avalon examined the image closely. “She’s beautiful.”

“Isn’t she, though?”

“Can you tell me more about how she supports the two of you?”

Avalon didn’t bother looking at Neon when she started replying. “Well, like I said, she’s a professional fighter. She wins fights, makes money, sends it to me every month. She makes more than enough to support the both of us, honestly, and sends me enough extra to not only pay for rent and food and stuff, but also enough that I can get nice stuff, too.”

“You say...fighter. What does that mean?”

“Jeez, Avalon. What _else_ would I mean?” Neon rolled her eyes at the dragon, feeling a little bit smug that Avalon wouldn’t ever be able to return the gesture. “She’s a _Buddyfighter_ , obviously.”

“A…?”

“Oh, _you_ know! Aren’t you a card too, Avalon?”

“Well…” It hesitated. “I suppose you could put it like that.”

“She’s contracted with a company and it pays her, and she’s also got big-name sponsors and a lot of the big tournaments she’s part of have big cash prizes too...she’s basically living the dream out there.”

“But what does her work as a... _fighter_ entail, exactly?”

“Like I said, she does tournaments and stuff, in the name of the company she’s contracted to.” She’d rattled off these words what felt like hundreds of times before--being a professional fighter was no different than being a professional at any other sport. “She fights in their name, wins big, they pay her the big bucks because at this point she’s well known enough that she could split off and go to anyone who offered her something better.” Neon smiled. “If we go to a library or something, I could show you videos of her matches if you want!”

But Avalon just looked deep in thought. “So the matches are purely business.”

“Well, yeah.”

“Then what could have possibly inspired someone to kill you as a message to _her_ , rather than to this company she is part of?”

Time ground to a halt. “...Avalon, I know my sister, and I _know_ what you’re trying to imply. She hasn’t done anything to deserve something like this happening.”

“As you say.” It didn’t sound all that believable, though. “I am merely trying to ascertain the culprit’s motivation.”

“Besides, I’ve watched all her matches. They’re usually on TV, and if they’re close enough to here she’ll send me tickets. Shion wins all her matches perfectly fair and square, alright?”

“I believe you.” Trying to talk to something that didn’t really have a face was...frustrating. How was she supposed to tell if Avalon was actually being sincere or not? “For now, we should simply try to learn more about the situation. Do you know anything more specific about her work?”

Neon’s bravado faltered. “That’s the most I know about it. She doesn’t usually talk about it much. I just always figured it was because it’s pretty boring, other than the matches.”

It nodded. “What about you? Are you also a...fighter?”

“God, I _wish_.” Neon snorted. “I mean, I can play the game just fine and everything, but not anywhere near as well as Shion can. And when you go around talking about how a famous Fighter is your big sister, everyone expects you to be as good as her, you know? So I decided to play soccer, instead. A full body sport! Teamwork and friendship! All the same things that go into a Buddyfight, without actually having to Buddyfight.”

“A close enough substitute to avoid being compared to your sister.”

“Avalon, if I wanted you to psychoanalyze me, I’d pay you. Besides, it really isn’t anything like that. I can play the game well enough to have fun with my sister when she visits, and with anyone else who wants to challenge me. I couldn’t play seriously even if I wanted to, because I never had a Buddy of my own.” Neon huffed, and then a slow realization crept up on her like a slow chill. “Wait… Avalon…”

“Yes?”

“Are you...my Buddy now?”

“Am I?”

“You’re the monster! Aren’t _you_ supposed to know if we are or not?”

“I suppose we are, then. Although I would assume this kind of revelation is meant to be more spectacular than this.”

“ _Argh!_ All these years of waiting, and I get one _after_ I died! I can’t even fight anymore!” Neon huffed and crossed her arms, frowning at Avalon. “You’re late.”

“Speaking more properly, _you’re_ the one who’s late, Neon child.” Was...was that a joke? About being dead?

Well, it made sense that one of the apparent deities of the afterlife would have a morbid sense of humor, but…

“That was in really bad taste, Avalon.”

“My most sincere apologies.”

Neon rolled her eyes. “Okay, anyways, we have something a little bit more important to do than argue about this, even though there was no argument yet. We need to get moving!”

“In your investigation of your own murder, yes?”

“Yeah. I…” Neon glanced at the body again, lying there in the middle of the floor as if, maybe, it was just sleeping. It was hard to think of it as hers, even if she didn't exactly feel _alive_ anymore. Maybe there was no breath in her lungs or pulse in her neck, but she could still move and she could still think. The body on the floor had half of those things, but it didn't have the most important parts.

Kayazuki Neon wasn't dead yet.

“I just don't want to be around a body for too long, you know? It's creepy, so let's get packed up.”

Telling Avalon what it needed to grab was...annoying, to put it lightly. Neon had watched enough of _Taylor Dragon_ to know that disturbing the scene of a murder was the opposite of what she wanted to do, but she didn't really have any other option when it came to grabbing things essential to the investigation. If she'd been able to touch things she would’ve had the lightest and most delicate touch imaginable, but Avalon had those...claws. Asking it to be delicate was like asking a lion to be more gentle with its kill. So with some major difficulties, Neon’s bag was retrieved and emptied, and Avalon looked up at her for more instructions.

“Um...my wallet. We might need money, so...it would be a good idea.” She paused to point it out in the pile of papers and books dumped out of her bag, a teal square of fabric. “And...my phone. And charger.”

“Why would you need either? That is a communication device, yes? Who would you communicate with?”

“My friends and my sister, okay? I know you're like, a god of death and stuff, but I'm still getting used to it. I...don’t want to seem dead to them yet.”

It was a purely selfish request. Inevitably, the landlady would find her body once rent was late, or maybe one of her friends from school would get suspicious of why she was staying absent for so long. The police would investigate, and it would be revealed that she died long before she stopped talking to the people she cared for. Maybe all of them would think they'd been talking to her murderer or something, but they'd never suspect it was her ghost. After the fact, surely all of them would be grossed out and disgusted once they realized the inconsistencies, but…

Avalon nodded. “I understand.”

The god before Neon picked up her phone and asked where the charger was. “Anything else?”

“We need the evidence, of course. With you and your grubby paws, any fingerprints on it already got ruined, so it isn't like it'll be any help to anyone else.”

It re-capped the soda bottle and slid it into the bag. “Neon child, pardon my asking, but why is it that you know so many things about...investigations such as this?”

Neon grinned. “It's all thanks to my favorite show! _Taylor Dragon_ is like...it’s part crime drama, part magical girl cartoon! There's this group of girls led by, of course, Taylor Dragon, and they crossnize with their Star Dragon World Buddies to transform into their super-powerful forms to fight crime!” Avalon had broached her absolute _favorite_ topic. “Taylor's Buddy is Omega Big Bang and in the latest episode, she'd finally broken free of Kylie Diva’s love spell and finally got back on track with hunting down the culprit of the Heart Ripper serial murders and--”

“I see.” Avalon cut Neon off flatly. “I know you are excited, but I think you can agree that we should be on the move before you tell me the entire plot of this story, and I am discovered with the body.”

Avalon had a point, unfortunately. Neon would have been perfectly content to ramble on and on about the best show on the _planet_ , but time was of the essence. They had a murder investigation to get started on, and if someone just somehow managed to stumble onto this scene with Avalon shoving all the things necessary for a proper investigation into a bag with no one else around, it would look bad.

“...Fine. But if we can get to a computer when the next episode is up online, I'm making you watch it with me.” Avalon would have to type for her, anyways.

Neon did consider bringing her laptop with them, but it was big and bulky and the kind of thing that would make it even more obvious that this was a murder--one with a purpose. So instead of anything else so noticeable…

“Avalon, can you grab the picture of me and Shion?”

“Yes.”

“So I never forget who I'm really doing this for.”

Without answering, it floated over to her desk and oh-so-carefully picked up the frame and put it in the bag. It was handled with the same kind of care Neon would have given it, if she had claws instead of real fingers. Maybe Avalon had started to believe her when she said Shion couldn't have done anything wrong.

It was exciting, kind of. Neon felt the same kind of rush she did just before a soccer match--all her limbs felt light, her mind moving at lightspeed, and if she'd still had a pulse she was sure she'd be able to feel it hammering in her chest. This was the same kind of big undertaking as a match, wasn't it? Connect to her teammates--well, one teammate, Avalon--and bring the ball to victory. It's just that victory this time meant somehow bringing her murderer to justice.

Neon looked around her room one last time--her desk, her bed, her bookcases and all her books, her walls adorned with posters and notes from friends and her sister’s letters, the blue rug her sister had bought her as a present when they'd first moved here. Leaving on this investigation meant leaving all of it behind. She'd never get to sleep curled up under all her blankets and get woken up too early by the sun shining on her face from where the blinds refused to cover. She'd never be able to lay on the floor and read manga, or bellyflop into bed after a really hard day of practice or playing or having fun. Thinking about it hurt a lot more than she thought it would, and even if it couldn't beat anymore, her heart still tightened in her chest. There was a lot she couldn't do, now that she was dead. Even if she could still text her friends, that little degree of separation--how they would never see her again, and how she could never talk to her again--weighed so heavy on her shoulders she thought she might just collapse again.

But there wasn't any time for that. They needed to get moving. Summoning the rush of energy again, she looked over to Avalon and nodded. “Alright. I think we're ready to go.”

It seemed to stare at her, and its silence was a little eerie. And then it moved, floating over to her and putting a clawed hand on top of her head. “It is okay to cry again, Kayazuki Neon.”

“I--I wasn't going to cry.”

“As you say. But if you would like to, you may.” Avalon’s rolling thunder voice was gentle now. Thunder in the distance. Rains that wouldn’t hit. Lightning that only sparked in the clouds. “We should be going.”

Neon nodded, finally steeling herself for real. She was leaving. It was fitting, wasn't it? Of course dying meant leaving her old life behind. It shouldn't have to be a big deal.

And with those thoughts kept firmly in the front of her mind, Neon walked to her door. “Hey Avalon, can you open this for me?”

“You could float through it, you are aware.”

“I _know_ that, but you have to open it anyways to go out, right? It's not a big deal…”

Bag in one hand, Avalon opened the door, and they left, closing the door behind them without bothering to lock it. Who would even care enough to try robbing the apartment of a twelve year old that lived alone?

“Hey, Avalon,” Neon started as they walked, “why...uh, why can't I like, float through the floor? It feels solid to me.”

“Ghosts and their abilities are dictated by belief. The fact that you are still even so whole is proof of the fact that you still do not fully believe in your death, yes?”

“I'm _not_ dead. Not all the way, at least. Like, maybe halfway, or something.”

“That is precisely what I am referring to. Similarly, the reason you cannot move through the floor is simply because you believe so fervently that you should not be able to. Moving through things like walls or passing your hands through things like the bottle happens because you believe you should be able to do that. Perhaps because you think you should be able to, as a ghost.”

“I think ghosts should be able to come out of the floor to scare people, though.”

“Additionally,” Avalon continued as they walked down the stairs, outright ignoring what Neon was saying, “I doubt you would be able to float of your own will, or engage in...poltergeisting activity. You simply do not believe you can.”

“That's stupid.”

“Much of the metaphysical is, yes.”

The apartment complex was close enough to school to be in one of the busier parts of the city, and there were passing stares and whispers about the lone monster on the streets. Even this late at night there was a handful of people milling around, going home or to whatever unsavory business they would have this late. Lights still sparkled off windows and the moon was settled over the horizon among the stars that always shone so brightly, even over a city as well-lit as this one. A tranquil night.

Nothing about what had happened tonight felt real yet. Dying, coming back as a ghost, an actual _god_ coming back with her, and now she'd decided to investigate her own murder? Neon hadn't even figured out how exactly she was going to do that. She was working almost entirely off of bravado and that was bound to run out soon.

She'd always thought that maybe she would go on some grand adventure too, just like the characters in _Taylor Dragon_ , because with all these TV shows and manga and games with protagonists around her own age, it just felt...natural to think about. But if this was her adventure, her _story_ , wasn't it happening all wrong? Adventures didn't start in the middle of the night. The hero doesn't die before the start.

“Neon child,” Avalon said, interrupting her thoughts, “where do you propose we go first?”

Neon turned and stared at Avalon’s smooth, eyeless face. “Uh...I hadn't figured that out yet. I don't think there's really anywhere that would let just a buddy monster in on their own this late...so how about we just go sit in one of the parks and think about our next move?”

They walked together, or at least Neon did. Avalon floated a foot or two off the ground to keep their precious evidence bag from dragging across the ground, bobbing through the air as if it were floating through a stream. When they'd been in her room, Neon hadn't really had the chance to examine Avalon closely. It was gold and it looked weird was all she’d really gathered at first, but now that she could really look at it…

It wasn't really all that big, although it was probably just making itself small to avoid trashing her room. Or entire apartment complex. The voice Neon had heard in her dream, Avalon’s stormy words, sounded like it belonged to something a lot bigger than this tiny little dragon. But even as small as Avalon was right now, it was still hard to look at. All its body parts seemed to be separate from each other, just floating with no reason for them to be anywhere near each other--arms separate from the torso, legs separate from the hips, a long tail that ended before its back, a golden halo that hung in the air behind its head, and two dainty little feathered wings that floated just off where its shoulders would be if it had any. Its head had no eyes and what looked like a beaked mouth, but even that wasn't real. Throughout the whole night, Neon hadn't seen that beak move at all.

It was like something that was trying to look like a bird or a dragon or maybe even an angel, but wasn't completely sure what any of those looked like. When she looked too close at it, it was obvious just how _wrong_ it looked. Like something that wasn't meant to be on this world.

But then it was, wasn't it?

“Hey, Avalon.”

“Yes?”

“What's it like...being the god of heaven?”

Avalon stopped short, and Neon skidded to a stop and turned to it. “Kayazuki Neon,” it said, with some unreadable tone in its voice, “you are the first I have accompanied to ask me this.”

“That's the second time.”

“I am quite certain--”

“No, I mean...that’s the second time you've used my name properly.”

“I'm not quite sure of what you're referring to, Neon child.”

Neon rolled her eyes. Avalon had a pretty weird sense of humor. “Am I really the first person to ask you that? I mean, it feels like something obvious to ask to get to know you better.”

“You have not been the first I have granted the boon of returned life to. But you are the first to have been so...very calm about your predicament. The others had been granted full life, and I accompanied them as they, much like yourself, sought to discover the meaning behind their deaths. Despite being the one to have granted such a chance to them, however, they rarely bothered to give me much more than a few words of thanks.” Avalon floated there, still unmoving, and tilted its head thoughtfully. “Certainly, none of them ever made an attempt to...get to know me.

“You asked me what it is like, Neon child. To be a god. Would it shock you to learn its mind-numbingly dull? I preside over the afterlives of all--both the people from this planet, and those of all worlds--and as you are now well aware, they can die at any time, and do, with alarming regularity. My duty is merely a process of judging who is fit for the realm I preside over, and those who belong in the realm of my counterpart, Gagalgarios. It is never ending tedium. I am all-powerful, yes, but what is power that is never meant to be used?

“As I said, Neon child, you are not the first I have accompanied past death. It is a bit like a game, I have to admit. Humans are just so very...unpredictable. Accompanying through your lives, or un-lives, I suppose, is as to me as watching your television shows is to you. New, exciting, and completely divorced from the rest of my existence. I have Charuthea, whom presided over your judgment, Luminalion, who guards the gate itself, and all those denizens who live in the Paradise I have created, and yet…” Avalon trailed off, tilting its head towards the ground. “I suppose it is the instinct of all that which thinks to search for ever-new distractions.”

Neon didn't say anything in reply. What really was there to say?

“My apologies. That was likely not the answer you desired from your question.”

Avalon started moving again, and Neon trailed behind it, still rolling its words over and over in her head. The fact that she hadn't been the first wasn't really a surprise, just judging from how Avalon and Charuthea had been talking during her judgment. But the real reasoning behind it…

None of this had been about _her_. From her death to her resurrection, nothing about it had been about _Kayazuki Neon_ , even though it was her that it was all being done to. To both Avalon and to her murderer, she was little more than a stepping stone for other things in their lives.

There was something like resentment bubbling in her chest. So many people were just seeing her life as just a means to an end, as if she didn't exist at all, even before she'd become a ghost.

“Avalon…” Neon wasn't sure what exactly she wanted to say. There were a lot of things, and they were all conflicting with each other, all boiling together. “Um...thank you. For telling me all that, I guess. And for bringing me back, even if it wasn’t all the way back.”

A lot was being left unsaid, but that was fine for now. Even gods had vulnerable moments, and even if Neon resented being treated like this, Avalon was still the one who had given her the chance to feel this kind of resent at all. She could call it selfish later.

They continued their way to the park, silent all the way there. Neon wasn't really sure what to say or how to say it, and Avalon just seemed to be a quiet creature by nature, so the awkward silence stretched out painfully. Neon was about to break it when another voice called out, “Hey, kid!”

She spotted who the voice belonged to immediately, now that she heard him: a tall kid she recognized from school. Magatsu Jin, from a grade above her, in all his sleazy glory--sure, he wore that loose purple coat and flowing teal scarf casually, but anyone who had been around him for long could tell you he was from a moneyed family. They said he'd even taken a relative’s last name to hide his actual family relations, just because he was _that_ rich. He was a regular face in the Aibo school tournaments too, so you could basically say he had it all, if he wasn't also so dead-set on trying to act like an amateur yakuza leader.

Neon turned, trying to see who he was yelling at, and he shouted again, “No, I'm talking to you! Kid with the gold dragon!”

“Wait,” she said, the words out of her mouth before she could stop them, “are you talking to me?”

“Uh, _obviously_. Do you see anyone _else_ around here, kid?” He walked over to her, squinting at her almost derisively. “Huh. You know, when Yamigitsune said there was something interesting going on around here, I wasn't expecting it to be so...short.”

“I'm not short,” Neon snapped back, before the fact that Jin had seen her, heard her, _talked_ to her settled in. The other people they'd passed clearly hadn't seen her, so why could…?

Didn't Avalon say something about this? She could only communicate with...those who had a deep connection to death.

She looked up at Jin as a chill shot its way up the back of her neck. It wasn't like she could even die again, so there was no point in feeling intimidated, and yet, here she was. But there was only one proper response to feeling scared. She put a hand on one hip and said, “Who even are you?”

“Oh, c’mon, don't be like that. I've seen you around, so I'm sure the feeling’s mutual, right? It's not like you're hard to miss.” Jin smirked, a lazy grin that made him look like a contented cat, or maybe a fox. “What’s your name, kid?”

She ignored him, instead throwing a glance at Avalon, who seemed to just be observing their interactions. “What did you mean when you said...Yamigitsune said something interesting was happening? Isn't that your Buddy?”

“Ah, so you _do_ know me!”

“Of _course_ I know you. The sixth grade teachers tell horror stories about you.”  


“Do they tell stories about me, too?” A different, drier voice whispered into her ear, and Neon turned and kicked on instinct--and actually made contact with someone tall in a deep purple yukata. And a fox mask covering their face. Yamigitsune. “Oh, my. No need to be so feisty.”

Neon scowled. Skull Warriors like Yamigitsune were already dead, so there wasn't any surprise there. But why could Jin…?

“Please, Yamigitsune, you're scaring her. Leave a little for me, why don't you?” Jin chuckled, and Neon shot a glare back at him. “Ooh, scary. Are you gonna kick me too, kiddo?”

“My name isn't _kid_. It's Neon. And if you're just here to try and freak me out--”

“Woah, no!” Still grinning, Jin held up a hand. “We've totally gotten off to a bad start here. Yamigitsune said he'd gotten word from one of his contacts that someone interesting was going to be lurking around with a gold dragon. And here you are.”

Yamigitsune reappeared at Jin’s side, and even with a mask covered his entire face, it was pretty obvious he was smirking just as wide. “Damian sends his regards.”

Avalon made some sort of derisive sound, and Neon glanced at it again. “Do...you two know each other?”

“We've met,” Avalon said flatly. With how wordy it had been before, this was _definitely_ weird.

“So, little Miss Neon,” Jin said in a tone that was making her seriously consider kicking him, “what are you doing out here that makes you so very interesting?”

She could tell him the truth, sure. But even someone like Jin--no, maybe _especially_ because it was someone like Jin--would just laugh at her if she said she was a ghost. But Neon remembered Damian from her judgment as well, tall and sarcastic and kinder than she would have originally thought, and knew if he had a hand in this it had to mean something. Right?

Maybe she had been looking at this all the wrong way. Maybe Jin wasn't a threat just because he had some sort of deep connection to death. After all, he was only one year older than her. Maybe, just _maybe_ , since he was still alive _and_ he could see her, he could become an incredibly powerful ally in her search for her murderer.

She had to approach this properly. “Promise you won't laugh?”

“I make no guarantees.”

“I'm…hunting down a murderer. And you can help me.”

Now it was Jin’s turn to look stunned, but Yamigitsune looked as if he'd expected this. Had Damian filled him in, then? Or did he just understand, from one dead person to another? “Woah, excuse me, are you kidding me? A _murderer_?”

“That's what I said.”

“Aren't you, like, twelve? What do you think you'll be able to do?”

Well, at least he hadn't laughed at her. Somehow, how he was taking her seriously didn't feel any better. “Hey, Jin. Do you pay attention to pro Buddyfighting?”

“Yeah, but what does _that_ have to do with--”

“What if,” Neon said loudly, “I told you the next victim would be Kayazuki Shion?”

There. _That_ got Jin to shut up. He frowned, and then appraised her carefully. “You're...you’re that girl that says Shion’s your sister, aren’t you? Are you serious?”

“Shion _is_ my sister. And according to the _evidence_ ,” Neon said, saying the word in the same way one would shake a bag of coins in front of a desperate man, “she’s the next target of some freak who already killed someone tonight. So help me figure out who it is.”

Jin just stared at her, clearly in between believing what she said and rejecting it as obvious falsehood. “... _Shion_ , really?” And then he turned to Yamigitsune and frowned at him. “You knew about this, didn't you? You _totally_ knew this was exactly what I was about to get into, and you let me anyways.”

“Things felt slow,” Yamigitsune said with a low laugh, and that was apparently everything he felt needed to be said on the matter.

“Oh my god. Okay, fine. You've both backed me into a corner. I can't just turn you down when you put her name on the table…” Jin sighed dramatically and then spread his arms wide. “I'm a huge fan of Shion. Who would I be to reject such a heartfelt request from her own sister?”

Neon heaved a sigh of relief, and then grinned up at him. If he was a fan of her sister, then even a weirdo like Jin couldn't be a bad person. “Thank you! Thanks so much!”

“I mean, sure I'll help, but shouldn't something like this go to the police? I mean...if it's a real murder, y’know?”

“Of course it’s real. I--” Neon paused to take a deep breath. Would Jin notice she wasn't breathing normally? “I even saw the first body myself, okay? It's real and because the first victim was someone really important to me and because the next target is my sister, I'm going to do this myself. With help. But if my sister finds out who died because of some creep who’s after her…”

“It’d be bad, huh. Dang. I know that like, in my head, you're wrong, but…” Jin scratched the back of his head. “Oh, whatever. What’s the worst that could happen?”

 _You could get killed_ , Neon wanted to offer, but scaring off her only real ally was a bad idea. “Besides, why do _you_ of all people want to tell the police? I thought that was the opposite of your whole thing.”

Jin sniffed, and Yamigitsune laughed that creepy, hollow laugh of his. “I'll have you know I have an entire contact in the Buddy Police. He'd be perfectly willing to help out low-key, but...I _guess_ I see your point. Better to get this freak behind bars first.”

“Yes! Exactly!” Neon had half a mind to try and hug him, except for the fact that she’d probably pass right through him. “We can--”

“However,” Jin said, cutting her off, “that's something for tomorrow. It's late, and I need to at least try to convince my family I'm not going to cut school for a murder investigation. What’s your number?”

Neon couldn't just let Jin get away like this. He could tell someone. Lies were stacking on lies, but it was all she could do to convince the one person in the world who could still see her that she was still alive. “Um...actually, can I...go with you? I know that's a weird request, but…”

Jin stared at her and then shrugged. “Sure, whatever. I won't ask any prying questions. Taking in a tragic orphan for the night will convince my family I'm not as horrible as everyone says. I, uh…” He looked away. “I know Shion’s family was lost in the Disaster, so…”

The moment stretched awkwardly, and both Avalon and Yamigitsune refused to intervene, so Neon did her best to work with it and smiled. “You really are big fan, huh? I never would’ve guessed someone like you would like her.”

“God, of _course_ I do! Her vicious playstyle is just the coolest!”

And just as easy as that, the awkwardness was gone with the evening breeze.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the extremely long wait between chapters! i've got a combination of school and illness kicking my butt, and i really wasn't expecting writing this to take so long. i hope you all enjoy this chapter (and the fact that i've got a good 5000 words of the next chapter written as well!)

“So...alright. Let me get your story perfectly straight,” Jin said, pacing around in front of Neon. “You're at risk of being caught up in a murder investigation and you want to avoid that because your sister, the real live Kayazuki Shion, would get caught up too, and you don't want her to get caught in the scandal. That's it, right? No changes?”

They were sitting--well actually, both of them were standing--in Jin’s bedroom. It was a lot more modest than Neon had expected, with hardly anything in the way of personal belongings. Had it been overflowing with like, gold or cards or _something_ that made it look lived-in, that would have been fine, but the state of things made it look like he tried to spend as little time in here as possible.

For instance, on the wall furthest from his bed, there was a bookcase packed with difficult-looking books, not a single one of their spines cracked. A modest desk nearby had a laptop sitting on top of it, its charger snaking behind it and into a plug in the wall, but there wasn't anything else on it, not even a lamp or something. It looked a bit like a movie set; something someone else had prepared for him.

“Like, you realize I'm a con artist, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Coming from a family of con artists, to put it lightly.”

“Got that on the way in,” Neon said, thinking back to how Jin had people who could probably be called _servants_ and how they'd stared questioningly at but not actually asked about the thin air Jin had appeared to be talking to. “Listen, do I look like the kind of person who would try to con you? At the start of the year my homeroom teacher pinned your picture to the board and told us to never _ever_ give you money.”

“Having a reputation is so _marvelous_.” Jin grinned, looking quite pleased with himself. Had he...actually managed to con one of the teachers? “But that isn't the point. The point is it's going to fall to me to spin your story in such a way that it seems like I'm not the patsy here. Let's rework it and make it more believable.”

Neon narrowed her eyes at him. “Is it like, essential that you make me look like an idiot, or can you just say you're having a friend over for the night?”

Jin stared at her blankly, as if the idea of that hadn't even occurred to him. Neon glared harder.

“Anyways,” he said breezily, in what was possibly the most clumsy attempt she'd ever seen at trying to ignore the issue, “I need to go for a second. Don't break anything.”

“There's nothing in here to break.”

“So I have absolute faith in you!”

And with that, Jin was out of the room.

“Avalon,” Neon said, frowning, “find something breakable in here.”

“His laptop computer is on the desk, but I will not be breaking it for you.”

Neon huffed, and finally let herself sit down on the floor. Sure, she knew Jin was just that kind of person, but it was still annoying. But at the same time, she couldn't really blame him for how he'd turned out, especially when he ended up being _much_ richer than she'd ever expected. Weren't rich kids supposed to be much less well-adjusted?

“...hey, Avalon. Do you think anyone will believe him?”

“About having friends?”

The question was posed in that same calm, measured monotone that all of its sentences were in, and it took Neon a few moments to process it before she started snickering, followed by trying to cover it up with a cough. “Don't be so rude to our new _friend_.”

Avalon tilted its head in such a way that Neon just _knew_ that if it had eyebrows, they'd be raised all the way up. “To answer your question more precisely, I feel secure in my assumption that whoever he's gone to talk to, they're going to care as much as those we saw on the way in. Sad, perhaps, but I cannot argue with something that works so clearly in our favor.”

“...I guess.”

Avalon had put it bluntly, but Neon had kind of assumed the same thing. Just looking at his room and how he was treated here gave enough clues that it didn't take a detective to figure things out.

“Although, Neon child, I simply have to ask. Why did you wish to accompany him here if he has so caught your ire?”

“Well, for one thing, Damian sent him over to us. He was...nice to me during my judgment, so I'd feel bad if I just ignored that, y’know?” Neon pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her cheek on them. “And...I don't know. I’m still getting used to this whole being dead thing. Maybe I just wanted to be around someone alive for a little while.” She paused. “Is that selfish?”

“I am not well versed enough in the matter of human mortality to say.”

“But it's your _job_.”

“I still have yet to change my funeral plans from ‘if’ to ‘when’ and that in and of itself prevents me from knowing more.”

The way that was phrased brought all sorts of uncomfortable questions to mind, but Neon didn't voice any of them. But luckily, the awkward silence didn't have to last very long before Jin returned, brightening the mood of the room instantly.

“You've been approved! Luckily they didn't ask to actually see you or anything, so you don't need to be worried about that.” Jin sat on his bed and yawned. “Although I guess I need to actually set you up with a room, huh. How long are you planning on kicking back here, huh?”

 _Until I figure out who killed me._ “Just a few days, if I’m lucky.”

“Yeah, you're in an awfully scary situation. What if after your sister they went for you next?”

Neon’s chest, empty and lifeless though it was, felt tight. “Honestly, just knowing they're after her is bad enough.”

Jin was silent for a few moments, and he made a sympathetic grimace. But then it was over, and he was back to being himself. “Right! Room! Let me take you to the guest room, so you can brood about murderers in peace.”

“Wh--I wasn't _brooding_.”

“You totally were. It's fine, I won't judge. Anything else you need first?”

“Hm…” It would have been more polite to turn him down, but… “If it's fine by you, since you're probably sleeping soon, can I borrow your computer? I wanna show Avalon some stuff. We only became Buddies really recently, and it’s still getting used to Earth, so…”

“Oh, sure. Here's where I'd tell you not to go digging, but I keep everything important on my phone anyways.” Jin bounced back onto his feet and over to the desk, unplugging the charger and offering it and the laptop itself to Neon. “Here.”

Neon almost recoiled from it as if he’d been offering a live cobra. “O-oh, um, actually, Avalon should take that. I'm, um, really clumsy, so…”

A flimsy excuse to hide the fact that she couldn't exactly touch things anymore. But Jin seemed to buy it. “Alright. But aren't you on the soccer team?”

“It's not like you play soccer with your hands.”

Jin flashed an amused grin, and handed the laptop to Avalon. “Let me show you your brand new room.”

They walked out together, and Neon followed at a bit of a distance, feeling painfully aware of how her footfalls made no sound. It was one of those invisible noises, like her breathing and her heartbeat, that had completely vanished. What if Jin noticed? What if she had to tell the only person who could see her now that she wasn't really alive?

Being dead was a lot more stressful than anyone ever said.

But… Avalon had said that the only people who could see her were ones with a connection to death. Avalon being able to see her was obvious, and Yamigitsune wasn't a surprise either, since all the Skull Warriors were basically zombies. But Jin...why he could see her was a mystery.

Even more pressing than why he could see her was the issue of if she could _touch_ him. She'd been able to touch Avalon and kick Yamigitsune, but what about Jin? Did it only apply to monsters, or maybe just to the demi-dead?

Jin was saying something but Neon tuned him out. The world felt still and silent as she raised a hand and reached towards his back. If she made contact, she could blame it on picking a bit of fuzz off. It would be fine. It wouldn't be weird or anything.

She watched as her hand passed through his back and into his chest.

Neon jerked back, almost hard enough to fall backwards, but she kept her balance enough that Jin wouldn't notice what had happened. But Avalon did, and it shifted the computer over into one hand so that it could float up and set its heavy claws on Neon’s shoulder, and she was grateful for the contact. She'd never particularly been a touchy-feely person, but all the things she’d lost simply from not being able to do things like reach out and pat someone on the shoulder made things feel incredibly lonely.

“And here's your room,” Jin said, gesturing with a flourish, and the comforting pressure of Avalon’s claws vanished with it. “Enjoy your stay at the Hotel Magatsu.”

He opened the door for them, mercifully sparing Neon from having to ask Avalon to do that again, and the interior was...almost identical to Jin’s room. It felt almost exactly the same, like no one had really lived in it. That was to be expected in a guest room, but it still felt a little depressing. She hadn't even stepped into it yet and Neon already missed her books and her own bed and blankets and desk and rug that Shion had given her. But at least she wasn't sitting outside in the cold, scared and uncertain of just how exactly she was going to try and track down her killer when she barely even existed. Having Jin as an ally was comforting, if Neon was being perfectly honest with herself--even if they’d never talked before, his kind of strength and carefree nature and knowledge of things she could hardly even dream of was even more reassuring than the god she had beside her.

She really needed to stop being mean to Jin. Sure, he was still his flamboyant, smug, theatrical self, but it turned out the rumors of him having turned over a new leaf a few months ago were right. Before that it would’ve been completely unthinkable for him to have so selflessly offered her a friendly face and a place to stay, all without really asking her about what had happened. He couldn’t really cover up that kind of kindness he’d suddenly grown into, even if he was annoying and obnoxious.

“Um...thank you, Jin. You’re really helping us out.” It wasn’t much of a thank you, but how was she even supposed to approach the subject?

“I guess. It’s not as much as it could be.” He brightened up after he said that, though. “That said, if you two need anything, bother someone else, because I’m gonna be asleep. Walking you two back was _exhausting_.”

Jin turned and walked away from them, flipping a hand at them in some sort of weird dismissive wave as he started unwinding his scarf from around his neck. He disappeared around a corner, and already Neon kind of missed him--but getting lonely now wasn’t going to do her any favors. She turned to Avalon, who was watching the spot where he’d been just previously.

“He said he was a con artist, but he’s quite honest. He’s trying hard.”

“Is he?”

Avalon fixed her with a look, and then floated into the room, waiting for Neon to follow before it carefully and quietly shut the door behind them. “What do I do with this computer?”

As Neon discovered extremely quickly, trying to explain how electronics worked to an immortal dragon was even more of a chore than it sounded. Plugging it in and setting it up on the floor so that they could watch was easy enough, since the step by step instructions--put this part into here, open this, press this button I’m pointing at--were simple enough that even a toddler probably could have followed them. But it was operating it that was where things started to fall apart.

“Okay, next, you need to click this.”

Neon pointed at the icon for the internet browser, and Avalon tapped its claw against the screen.

And fun little scenarios like that kept happening until Neon was about ready to scream. It took way more trial and error than she’d ever wanted, but eventually, the browser was open, the relevant video site’s search bar was getting typed into, and the intro to one of Shion’s fights was playing on the screen.

“Alright, Avalon. We’re gonna watch one of my sister’s fights, so that you know exactly who it is we’re doing this for, okay?”

Avalon nodded, and turned its head to the screen. The camera panned up Shion, in her dark boots and dark pants and dark bomber jacket, her hair characteristically pulled back into a ponytail, and she was smiling confidently. With the roar of the crowd, she pulled her jacket off and threw it off the stage, revealing underneath a very simple black sleeveless turtleneck--all the better to show off her well-toned arms, which seemed to be a requirement for every single person ever who played the same World as her. Her buddy, currently looking like a little tiny bat, fluttered around her head.

“I picked this one because it was just a few months ago! And because I got to see it in person. I’m somewhere in the crowd in this!”

Again, Neon tucked her knees up to her chin, hugging them to her. She did want to show Avalon what kind of person her sister was and just exactly why she thought it was so important to help her out, but it was also a bit sad, watching her sister onscreen. After all, Neon would never be able to attend one of her matches like that again, or even really...see her in person again. Even if an upcoming match would be local, how was she supposed to attend? Maybe she should have picked one she’d watched on TV instead.

The camera changed to her opponent--a tall woman who looked the absolute embodiment of the word “pale”. Her skin was an almost papery white, and her hair, close cropped in the back with the bangs hanging long enough that they were braided down to her chest, was a purple so pale and faded that it was probably more accurate to call it silver. Even her clothes were pale--a well fitted three piece suit in the softest lavender imaginable. There was a cool look on her face that fit the icy blue of her eyes--not that you could even see them well, with how zoomed the camera was, but Neon had seen her picture a billion times in magazines and on TV.

“That’s right, everyone! It’s time for what you’ve all been waiting for! Today’s faceoff between the Queen of the Old Castle Shion and one of her first time challengers, Eyes!” The announcer’s perky voice was so familiar, Neon couldn’t help but smile.

“Her name is...Eyes?”

“Oh, no.” Neon glanced over at Avalon, who still seemed to be staring at the screen with rapt attention. “Her name’s actually Mizuki Ayame. ‘Eyes’ is something like a stage name, I guess, but I heard she actually just likes to be called that even when she’s not in front of a crowd. I always thought it was a weird name for her, though.”

“And why is that?”

“She’s blind.”

Another woman, a full head taller than Eyes, lightly stepped up to stand beside her. Compared to Eyes, she looked much more vivid--her hair, a darker shade of purple streaked with mint green, was wrapped into two big buns that made it look like she had cat ears, and she wore an absolutely gorgeous lavender evening gown with a slit down one side that showed off a little bit more leg than Neon thought was necessary.

“That’s her Buddy, Tiptree.”

Tiptree loosely draped her arms around Eyes’s shoulders, tilting their cheeks together, and Neon could feel her face heating up. All of their fights were like this, with them being so...close. Maybe it would’ve been better if she’d picked one with a different opponent instead…

The camera lingered on Tiptree and Eyes, and Neon awkwardly fought to cover up how embarrassed watching them made her feel. “D-did you know? Eyes is one of the first major celebrities to be open about her relationship with her Buddy! It was really big news about a year ago when they decided to start being public about it! B-but it means all their matches are a little, um…”

Eyes tilted her head against Tiptree’s, and Neon almost wanted to cover her face and maybe melt into the floor. They were always so _affectionate_ , and Neon couldn’t help being jealous of both of them, for finding such a beautiful lady to love.

Next to her, Avalon nodded. “That’s controversial, I imagine?”

“Y-yeah.” Finally, after however many agonizing seconds it had been, the camera returned to Shion. “Tiptree’s not from Earth, after all, but I really can’t see why it matters, y’know? Oh, shh, my sister’s about to start!”

Shion pointed across the stage, her buddy having decided to perch on her shoulder. “They say you can see the future, right? How’s this match looking for you?”

Eyes smirked, and shoved one hand into a pocket of her slacks. “Come on, now. You know you can’t bait me like that. We both know exactly what the outcome is going to be here, don’t we?”

“It’ll take a lot more than just empty posturing to take me down.” Shion just shrugged. “Since you’re the challenger, I’ll give you the advantage and take the first move. It’d only be fair.”

Eyes grinned, but it was more cocky than just confident. “An offer we can’t refuse. Then let’s get this started, shall we?”

Shion grinned back. “Let us play the song that heralds the end. Luminize, Bloody Nocturne!” She held up her deck case, and it transformed into an elegant full-size harp made of a dark wood. She delicately put her fingers on the strings, taking her place with the habit of a real player of the instrument.

“I don’t need to be clairvoyant to know every move you’ll make. Luminize! Future Phantasm!” Eyes’s core became a long and elegant cigarette holder, the Core itself warping so it could wrap around it. She held it elegantly in one hand and wrapped her other arm around Tiptree’s waist.

“I fight for Ancient World!”

“I fight for Star Dragon World.”

“Star Dragon World, huh...so it really is real.” Shion took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for the fight ahead, and dragged her fingers across the harp strings. “Monsters from the far distant future, versus my own of the far distant past. How fitting. Charge and draw. I call Schloss Dragon, Wanstein to the center.” Shion took another deep breath and closed her eyes. “Stepping into the queen’s castle without permission won’t be forgiven. I equip Ringlet, Loop of Fire!”

The item blazed into existence, a ring of flames wrapping itself around Shion’s upper arm, and Neon couldn’t help but grin. “She thinks it’s silly, honestly.”

“Hm?”

“Her stage persona. That whole ‘queen’ thing? Her manager made it all up for her, and she honestly thinks it’s kind of embarrassing! She told me that people actually call her Queen Shion at events she goes to, and it always gets her all flustered even though she’s been on the job for years now!”

“Why does she do it, then?”

“Oh...you know. Once she’s on the stage, she’s more of a character for others to look up to, or so she says. She’s been working really hard on her acting ability so that when she’s out there, she never lets down the expectations of the people who really admire the Queen, even if that’s not what she’s really like.”

Onscreen, Shion brought her other hand to her item, and then extended it to Wanstein. “Ringlet’s ability grants an extra 1,000 attack and defense to all Wild Dragons on my field. Of course, that includes Wanstein. Now, with your 3 critical, attack the one who would dare to defile our castle!”

Tiptree leaned in even closer, and murmured something to Eyes, who simply nodded, and permitted the attack to go through. It was just the first turn, and already her life had gotten knocked down to 7.

“That was quite the opening move,” Eyes said approvingly. “I thought I might as well be nice and let you have the only direct attack you’ll get all game.”

“Well, now that you’ve said that, I just _have_ to make sure all of them connect.”

“Draw!” Tiptree lazily reached out one hand and drew for Eyes, and then, after a brief conversation so soft the microphone at Eyes’s lapel couldn’t pick it up, she also sent a card off to the gauge. “Charge and draw. I equip Star Dragon Lance, Black Clock, followed by casting Fifth Focus, rearranging the top five cards of my deck, and I draw a card.”

“Cosmo Dragoons are weird,” Neon said, making a face at them. “You get to check your top cards and stack your deck. Isn’t that kind of like cheating?”

“This... _Eyes_ is playing Dragoons, you say?”

There was an intriguing note in Avalon’s voice compared to its usual monotone, showing interest in something other than Shion for the first time. Really, the fact that the match onscreen had grabbed its attention so much was kind of cute, to be honest. “Yeah. Do you know any of them?”

“Hm...while I’m not a frequent associate of the group, one of the envoys in my employ is part of them. I suppose it was only a matter of time until one of them offered themself to me, given they’re in a war, but…”

“A war? With who?”

Avalon turned its head to Neon, staring right through her for a few moments, and then turned back to the screen.

“Dispatch to the right, SAC17: Clarke!” A tall, dark-skinned man with long, messy white hair flashed into existence on Eyes’s right, clad in a skintight bodysuit like the one pilots wore in gundam shows. He had a helmet tucked under one arm and scowled across the field at Shion. “I activate his effect and check the top card of my deck. Shockingly, it’s another Cosmo Dragoon, so I add it to my hand and for this turn, Clarke can attack twice!”

The announcer piped in again. “While the Cosmo Dragoons are known for the fearsome war mechs, they’re unfortunately all far too large to actually show off on Earth! Clarke and his fellow soldiers will only be using their sidearms in this match.”

“To my left, I call the card Clarke added to my hand--AA12: Norton, dispatch.” This time, she called a pale young lady with a bright smile on her face and cat ears adorning her helmet. “Beginning our attack! Clarke attacks Wanstein!”

Casually, without bothering to free the hand holding up his helmet, Clarke drew a gun from a holster sitting on his hip, taking careful aim at the huge dragon that blocked him from setting his sights on Shion. The dragon, regal and elegant as it smacked the tip of its heavy tail against the stage floor, made no move to counter it. Clarke fired.

“I activate Wanstein’s effect, discarding a Wild Dragon from my hand and paying one life to prevent its destruction, and it gets Counterattack for the rest of the turn. And, because I discarded Mount Dragon, Jean Julon, I can pay give up another point of my life to increase my gauge by two.” Shion smirked, looking every inch the cliche villain. “You won’t defeat the guardian of my castle so easily.”

The dragon deflected the shot from Clarke’s pistol with one wing, and then took flight, spreading its huge wings out and swooping down onto him. He tried to guard, but he didn’t have the amazing war mech the announcer had talked about--he didn’t have anything to defend himself against its claws with.

“Clarke revives with Soulguard.” Eyes exhaled slowly. “Fun trick. But let’s see if you can do it again. Attack Wanstein again!”

“I cast A Dragon's Will, negating the attack and increasing my gauge!” Shion clicked her tongue, looking annoyed. “Unfortunately, since the attack is nullified completely, my dear Wanstein can’t claw your pretty little monster to pieces a second time. Wanna give it a third go?”

“Oh, absolutely. I activate Black Clock’s ability, resting it to reveal the top card of my deck--astoundingly, it’s _another_ Dragoon. It’s almost as if I know what the next two cards on top of my deck are after this one.” Tiptree’s whispered words and Eyes’s confident smile made it feel more like the two of them together were one fighter, really. “And that means Clarke gets to stand and attack Wanstein again!”

This time, his shot found its mark, and Wanstein shattered into nothingness.

“Wanstein has Lifelink 2, taking me down to only 6 life...or would, if Ringlet didn’t reduce the damage. I’m still at 7.”

“Not for long! Norton, attack the fighter! When Norton attacks, I--you guessed it--check the top card of my deck. It’s another Black Clock, so that gets sent off to my gauge, and I gain one life.”

Norton pulled out a gun that looked like it had keychains attached to the bottom of the grip, treating the shot a lot more seriously than Clarke had even with that same bright smile on her face, and fired at Shion. She just took it with all the grace and elegance and queen would have been expected to, watching as her life ticked down to 5, while Eyes’s life ticked up to 7.

“That’s the end of my turn. You’re up next, Vampire Queen Dorkula.”

Shion rolled her eyes. “Isn’t Star Dragon World supposed to be from the future? Because that line was old when Ancient World was new.”

Eyes suddenly broke into a grin, laughing happily. “Well sure, you’re an infant compared to some of the other pros out there! But that’s exactly why we wanted to fight you, see? So come on, now.” Her voice hit a dangerous tone, her smile fierce. “Show us just _exactly_ how the youngest pro got that title.”

The words were harsh, but when the camera flashed back to Shion, she was smiling too. Not as big, not as bright, but just as confident as she began her turn. “Draw. Charge and draw. I hope you’ll forgive me if my combos aren’t quite as long and detailed as what you two have going on. As I’m sure you know, my dragons are relics of the ancient past, and they could care less about your fancy tactics. Now, I Buddycall to the right, the dragon coiled around this castle’s turrets, Blood Dragon, Sylvania!”

Neon had always thought Shion’s buddy was beautiful. A dragon that was more of a serpent was coiled around the right side of the stage, her lustrous purple and red scales glinting in the sunshine as she lashed her tail. The monsters of Ancient World were the predecessors to those of Dragon World, and Shion’s Wild Dragons were the ancestors of _those_ monsters; creatures equal amounts of divine and unholy, deities made of mortal flesh. It wasn’t any surprise that even in their native world, there were legends whispered about them.

And the legend about Sylvania, one that had even lasted into Dragon World, was that she sustained herself on blood, not flesh.

“I gain 1 life from the call, and I activate Sylvania’s effect, discarding a Wild Dragon from my hand to add Cintamani Stone from my drop zone to her soul. Now,” Shion held up a hand, “four things are going to happen at once. With Ringlet’s effect, Sylvania’s attack and defense are increased by 1,000 each, bringing her attack to 10,000 and her defense to 7,000. Next, now that she has Cintamani Stone in her soul, she also has Move. For the third act,” she said, holding up a card, “because I discarded _this_ particular card, I can call it to the field! Blood Dragon, Follower to the left!”

Follower was a little tiny dragon, about the size of one of the larger bats on Earth, and it had the same regal purple and red scales that Sylvania did. But if Sylvania was a snake, Follower fluttered around more like a moth.

“Ringlet increases Follower’s attack and defense as well, of course. A true queen provides protection to all her subjects.” Shion smiled, falling back into character. “And with the sacrifice of the discard, your life is now forfeit to the vampiric dragon. Sylvania will now drain your life by 1, and increase my own by the same!”

Sylvania rose into the air, beating her great wings, rising until her shadow covered Eyes and Tiptree together.

“Hey,” Eyes said, rather casually, “didn’t you say you didn’t have detailed combos?”

“Did I say that?”

And Sylvania descended, its great fangs flashing in the light, and Shion’s life ticked up to 7 as Eyes’s fell to 6.

“Now, I use the life I’ve gained this turn to cast Divine Dragon Creation, drawing two cards. My attack begins!”

“Clarke moves to my center!”

“Sylvania attacks Clarke!” The dragons great fangs shredded the young man, opening Eyes’s center up to the onslaught of dragon attacks. “Next, she restands and attacks you directly.”

“Oh, sure. After all those pretty words you said about it, I can take that attack.” Eyes held an arm out, protecting Tiptree, and her life dipped down to 4.

“Attacking directly with Follower.” Shion grinned. “I should warn you, it has a similar effect to its mistress.”

“Oh, _that’s_ bad.” Tiptree murmured something into her buddy’s ear, and Eyes held up a card. “I cast Cosmo Heal Protection! I nullify the attack, and with the ever-lovely Tiptree’s assistance, I check the top card of my deck, and since it’s a Dragoon, I gain one life.”

Shion huffed. “We could’ve finished things right then, you know. I attack Norton with Ringlet!”

Now Shion herself darted into battle, her item cloaking her arm in flames, aiming a punch directly at Norton’s face. The young pilot guarded with her gun, but it wasn’t enough--Shion flipped her over her hip, slamming her to the ground with enough force that that was all it took to send Norton to the drop zone.

She jumped back to her position on her side of the stage, bringing her hands up to her harp’s strings again. “That’ll be the end of my turn.”

Again, Tiptree drew and charged for Eyes. “You _really_ don’t pull your punches, do you, princess?”

“E- _excuse_ me? Just who are you calling _princess?_ ”

“Obviously you, kiddo!”

“ _I’m nineteen years old!_ ”

“Right, just old enough to be a princess. Stop getting all huffy over there, I’m just saying it like it is.”

“Just get on with your turn already!”

“Alright, alright. Dispatching R20: Bradbury to the center, putting the top card of my deck into his soul. If you’re gonna pull all that vampire teen poetry nonsense on me, I’ll do just the same right on back.”

Bradbury had the same white pilot suit that both Clarke and Norton had worn, but this one had red and purple details radiating out from a red gem on his chest. Between that, a facemask that covered his mouth entirely, and his pale skin and wild red mane of hair, he looked downright _villainous_. Sure, Clarke had been all scowly and serious, but Bradbury wouldn’t have looked out of place with a glass of wine and a fluffy cat on his lap.

“Next, Space Agent! Three cards to my gauge, and I check the top card of my deck...and put it back on top. Now, dispatch Star Ocean Envoy, K22: Vonnegut to the right.”

“Oh,” Avalon said suddenly, leaning even closer to the screen, “I know him.”

“What?” Neon blinked at the sudden interruption. She’d been so totally engrossed in the match, she’d almost forgotten Avalon was next to her. “Who?”

“The monster Eyes just called.Vonnegut. He is one of my envoys.”

“Your envoys…? What do they do?”

“Precisely what it sounds. They are meant to represent me across the many worlds, and quite often are the ones who bring the souls of the dead to face their judgments. My counterpart Gagalgarios and his Damian have their own version of this as well, of course, but they are more intended to chase down any spirits who have attempted to escape their punishments.” Avalon sighed, tapping a claw against Vonnegut’s image on the screen. “But Vonnegut is a bit...overly enthusiastic in his duties. I really should send someone else to look after him…”

“Now,” Eyes said, and Neon’s attention snapped back to the match, “it’s tragic for me, but even more tragic for you. I Buddycall to the left J15: Tiptree.” She kissed Tiptree’s cheek, and Tiptree gently stepped down onto the left side of the stage, her beautiful gown melting away into skintight flight suit as Eye’s life increased back to. “With Tiptree’s effect, I put Clarke to the top of my deck.”

Tiptree turned and waved at the announcer. “Hey, miss!” The announcer swooped down to her, looking curious. “You don’t mind if I skip right back on up to my darling, do you? I’ll still count as on the field and everything, promise, but she needs my help with some of the cards, y’know?”

The announcer looked taken aback, just a little, but that made sense since what Tiptree was asking for was way outside the bounds of regulations. She couldn’t have just said no to that, but just saying yes wouldn’t have been easy either, so she looked over to Shion, who just shrugged, clearly still in a snippy move from getting called princess.

“Both competitors have given the okay to Tiptree’s return to the fighter area! However, the match will continue as if she were still on the field!”

Tiptree skipped back up to Eye’s side, snuggling against her again. “Tiptree won’t attack this turn, so you don’t need to worry about her. But now that that’s all said and done...entering the attack phase!”

“Sylvania moves to center.”

“Bradbury attacks Sylvania! When he attacks, I check the top card of my deck--and it is, obviously, a Cosmo Dragoon, so he gains Double Attack for this turn, _and_ you get a taste of your own medicine! I drain one point of your life and add it to my own. Now, Bradbury’s attack continues.”

“Sylvania’s effect! I discard a Wild Dragon from my hand, adding the Wanstein in my drop zone to her soul. Hope you don’t mind if I undo that little change you made to our lifecounts. And, because the card I discarded was Lake Dragon, Testaria, I pay one life to draw a card.”

Bradbury, unlike the other Dragoons Eyes had called, didn’t have a sidearm, or any other weapon, or so it seemed. He simply darted up towards the huge dragon on Shion’s center, and now Neon could see that on his fingertips he had something that glinted like claws, and with these he ripped into Sylvania, sending her fresh new soul into the drop zone.

“Bradbury restands and attacks Sylvania again. Once again I check the top card--oh, it was another Dragoon. Let’s drain a little bit more of your life, princess.” Shion was down to only 3 life, while Eyes sat confidently at 7.

“By paying one gauge and one life I cast Wrath Trigger! The next time Sylvania would be destroyed she is not, and she gets Counterattack for the rest of this turn!”

“Ah,” Eyes said simply, watching as Bradbury’s attack bounced off of Sylvania harmlessly, only to get destroyed himself. “Bradbury revives with Soulguard.”

Shion smiled confidently, plucking a few of her harp’s strings. “Well, what will you do now? You said you wouldn’t attack with Tiptree, but if she and Vonnegut had done a link attack, you could have destroyed my Sylvania again. But as it is...”

Eyes sighed, pulling Tiptree close. “It’s true. You just cracked my combo in half. Without that one single card, I could’ve gotten another two attacks with Bradbury in, and this match would have been over. But even if I attacked your center again, he’d just get destroyed, and that’d throw even more of a wrench into my plans. So...Vonnegut attacks Follower.” The attack went through, Vonnegut easily sniping the little dragon from the other side of the stage. “And Ringlet’s effect drops Follower’s Lifelink down to nothing, right?”

“Correct.”

“Nice. I activate Vonnegut’s effect, targeting Bradbury, and I put Vonnegut to the top of my deck. Bradbury restands, and I gain one life.”

8 life to Shion’s 2. The odds were overwhelmingly in Eyes’s favor, and her turn still wasn’t over yet.

“Well, princess. You’ve played a good game, but I think you might need to try looking over your deck again, alright? Final Phase!” Tiptree’s fingers gently touched the card in their hand, and Eyes held it up alongside her.

The card shattered into stardust, scattering across the stage, and wherever it landed the field transformed from its basic, blocky bricks into a starscape, even the sun above being blacked out by the void of space. Bradbury no longer stood alone--for the first time during the match, one of the Dragoons’ mechs had appeared, and it was quite the sight to see, all shining smooth edges and black metal, and it might have been a dragon. If not for all the extra armaments that had been slapped onto it, like a pair of scythe-like arms and a giant red gem like a massive eye in the center of what would’ve been its face.

“All units, follow my lead! Dragoon Skill, Stardust Maneuver!” Eyes’s voice was full of force, less the cockiness she’d been showing all match and instead just simply...confidence. As befit a leader talking to her troops. “I pay two gauge and check the top card of my deck--it is, of course, the Vonnegut I put there earlier this turn! I bypass your center monster entirely to deal four damage to you directly!”

Bradbury’s mech took off, its red eye glittering in the starlight. Glittering, then glowing, and then a red laser beam shot out of its eye, aimed directly at Shion.

“Cast! Enduring Hardships and Dragons!” Shion flashed a cocky grin, and the laser glanced off her almost harmlessly, lowering her life to 1. “The next damage dealt to me is reduced by three. Which is to say, this match isn’t _anywhere_ near over yet.”

“Turn end.” The field snapped back to reality. “You’re just full of surprises, ain’t you?”

Shion gestured widely, out to the crowds on either side of her. “A queen’s fight is entertainment! Just look at how low my resources are, with no cards in my hand, 1 life remaining, and nothing on my field but myself and my dear and darling Sylvania. If I didn’t let things get at least this tense, then that wouldn’t be much of a victory at all, would it?”

Neon already knew how this fight ended, of course. But the buildup to the end was still just as tense now as it had been watching it live.

“I draw!” Shion gently plucked the strings of her harp, adding a card to her hand. “...and don’t charge. I cast Death Reanimated, Dragon Reborn, discarding my entire hand of zero cards to draw three more. Oh, _that’s_ better. Next, I cast Dragon Emperor Legend, adding one to my gauge, hand, and life. And now...from my hand, I activate River Dragon, Amlia’s effect, discarding it and paying that gauge and life I just got to add Follower and Wanstein back to my hand.”

“You really do like living life on the edge, don’t you?”

Shion laughed. “It’s not like a single point is going to do anything to protect me if I let you survive this turn, after all! Ancient World means you fight alongside your monsters as one, and if I have to risk myself to bring them victory, then so be it. Someone who just directs them from the back doesn’t get to try and lecture me.”

Tiptree frowned, looking like she was about to say something, but Eyes shushed her gently. “Then show me what you’ve got, princess.”

“Gladly! I call Follower back to the left, and my item powers it back up again. Now, ready for me to attack?”

“Give it your best shot.”

“Sylvania moves to the right. It seems like your Bradbury was awfully inspired by my dear Sylvania, so it’s a shame to destroy him, but…” Shion shrugged. “I attack him with Ringlet.”

Again, Shion’s item wreathed her fist in flames, and she darted onto the field, past Sylvania and Follower, and Bradbury didn’t even bother putting up a fight. He just simply turned to Eyes and saluted her before Shion punched through him, and he shattered into light.

“Next, Sylvania!” Just like how Shion had at the start of the turn, Eyes only had one card in her hand, and she didn’t use it yet. Her life lowered to 6. “Sylvania’s second attack.” And then to 4. “Follower attacks!”

“ _Cast!_ ” Once again together, Tiptree and Eyes lifted the card in their hand. “Cosmo Heal Protection! The attack is negated, and we check the top card of the deck.” Neon already knew exactly how this turn played out, but she still felt so tense, watching as Tiptree drew a card and checked it. “...it is a Cosmo Dragoon, so I add it to my hand and gain one life.”

Eyes’s life flicked back up to 5 and Shion scowled. “Sorry about that, princess. Your plan was to hit me with Follower and then use Sylvania’s effect to finish me off, right? Which was a very good one, considering how you had to come up with it on the fly.”

“I’d be irritated at you implying you knew how this match was going to end if you were anywhere near correct. But because you drew a Cosmo Dragoon just now, that means you don’t have a shield in your hand.”

“That’s right. Not that it matters, since you can’t attack anymore.”

Shion grinned, and it wasn’t the fake regal smile she had worn in the beginning of the match. It was one of someone who was having just the time of her life, and Neon could understand--close matches in soccer kicked her into that same kind of excitement. Pure exhilaration. “I activate Sylvania’s effect, discarding a card from my hand to put a card from my drop zone into her soul and deal you one damage while I regain one life! Wrath Trigger goes in, my beloved vampire evens our score just a bit more--” Now it was 4 to 2. “--and I’ll take you up on attacking again this turn. Because I discarded it, I get to call a second Follower to the center!”

Shion jumped back to her core gadget’s side, and the tiny little moth-like dragon fluttered into existence. The look on Eyes’s face was some sort of mix of approval and outright disbelief.

“With a--with a size _zero_ ? Come _on_!”

“Hey, it’s all you let me do. That isn’t my fault. Now, Follower attacks!”

Eyes couldn’t do anything to defend herself from Follower’s attack--an extra point of damage on top of its two critical, and now Eyes was sitting at 1 life and Shion at 3.

“Now, o visitor who attempted to lay siege on this castle...I don’t have to resort to cheap tactics like you. I don’t have any Impacts in this deck.” Shion spread her arms again, and the crowd cheered for her as if they’d never seen her win a match before. “I just want to be clear that you know exactly what happens after I end my turn. You have only 1 life left. I still have cards in hand.”

Eyes sighed, and put her free hand on her hip. “Oh yeah. I know what’s up.”

“I end my turn.”

“Well, sorry, Tiptree. Nothing we can do about this one.” Tiptree reached across Eyes, gently touching the core. “Draw.”

“I activate Sylvania’s effect! I discard a card from my hand to put a card from my drop zone into my soul, and--”

“And deal me 1 damage.”

“Oh, yes.” Sylvania took flight once more. “And although it doesn’t matter, I also gain 1 life.”

Eyes’s life hit 0.

“And that’s it, folks!” The announcer chirped again, gesturing widely. “The Queen of the Old Castle has defended herself once more! Game end--winner, Kayazuki Shion!”

The crowd went wild, and Neon couldn’t help grinning. She knew what happened next--Shion and Eyes met at the center of the stage and exchanged a few words. Eyes finally called Shion a queen, and flirted with her a bit--and Neon wasn’t exactly excited to see her sister getting hit on again, so she just turned to Avalon again as the video kept playing in the background. “So? What did you think of her?”

“She is…” Avalon tilted her head to the side, still staring at the screen, and then turned to Neon. “Interesting. She enjoys these matches a lot more than her stage persona is supposed to let her express. She can think quickly on her feet, and she handles herself in difficult situations admirably. She made navigating against the Dragoons seem so much easier than it really is.”

“Right? Right?” Neon smiled happily. “She’s amazing! Definitely the best in the whole world! That’s who we’re doing it for, alright? My big sister who just has to put a show on for everything, even though she gets embarrassed about it later, who tries to do her best for all her fans that watch her and get inspired by her… She’s so amazing, isn’t she?”

Avalon nodded. “She is. I understand why you’re so proud of her.”

“And you didn’t believe me. Shows what you know, Avalon!” But...of course, exactly what they were doing wasn’t something that could just be smiled about as if it wasn’t a big deal, and on seeing Shion’s face on screen again Neon’s heart clenched tight in her chest. “...maybe it’s cheesy to say it like this, but...I want her to always be able to have matches like that. Ones where she’s so excited to be having them she can’t even keep herself in character. I want her to always be able to smile like that, regardless of if I’m here or not. I mean...it doesn’t really matter what happens to me at this point, I guess. But she’s out there shining like a star for so many people…” Neon was smiling, but she could feel that it felt kind of fake on her face. “I want her to always be able to live like that.”

Avalon raised one of its hands, and patted Neon on the head. “Your drive is admirable. I will continue to assist you in your goal of saving your sister from what surely awaits her.”

“Yes!” Neon wanted to reach out and hug the little dragon god, but too many of its joints were disconnected to make that very easy. “Thank you so much, Avalon. We’re definitely going to be able to do this!”

“You’re very confident for someone who can no longer touch things.”

“Quit complaining! Let’s--let’s watch some more of her videos. She’s got lots more tricks up her sleeves than just what she showed off here, and I want you to get to know her a little better! I’m sure some of her interviews are on here, too…”

It wasn’t the smoothest way of trying to play off how much Neon’s chest hurt as she dwelled on what being dead really meant, especially in relation to her sister, the only family she had left. In an ideal world, Shion would never find out, but that just wasn’t possible in this day and age, so she’d just have to settle for making sure that Shion wouldn’t find out what it was like to get murdered. That definitely wasn’t an experience she wanted to share.

The god and the girl sat together in Jin’s fancy house, watching videos of Shion and then other pro fighters, and then soon they simply fell to talking about how amazing the tactics and turns were, talking over the videos entirely, and even Avalon seemed interested in the game. Seeing that previously stoic dragon--no, that previously stoic _god_ , that had brought Neon _back to life_ , kind of--show so much interest in the game made Neon feel like it was such a shame that they’d never have a chance to fight properly together as Buddies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fight script (and all future fight scripts) was written by my friend venus, who is @yamigedo on twitter! and here's [some art](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYUlxUJU0AAKP6y.jpg) of neon and avalon by kaxi @garagewolf!
> 
> next chapter: actual investigating starts happening!


	3. Chapter 3

The night wore on as they watched Shion and discussed her strategies and tactics, and by the time Neon looked at the clock again it had suddenly become 6 am and the sun was starting to brighten things up outside. It felt like no time had passed at all, and she wasn't even hungry or tired or anything--but that was probably just a side effect of her being dead. At least it seemed like Avalon didn't get tired either--it would have been terribly lonely if she'd had to endure the night all on her own.

Jin would be waking up for school soon, since the murderer hadn't been polite enough to kill her on a weekend, and that...would be an issue, since they both attended Aibo. How was she supposed to justify splitting off from him so she could go and try to investigate things? Even Avalon had said that he was an honest person now, and maybe Jin did still have his reputation for being a delinquent that gambled and cut class and conned anyone who talked to him, but he also really had changed. Would this new and improved Jin even approve of her cutting class?

“What, ditching to investigate a murder? Count me  _ in _ !” They were halfway to the school itself now, and Neon had tentatively broached the topic. After seeing such an enthusiastic response, she felt kind of silly for having expected anything else. “We don't have time to pay attention to useless stuff like algebra! We've got a murder to solve! If that pompous kid Buddycop can do it, we can too!”

“What, you mean...whatshisname. That guy who’s on TV all the time?”

“Yeah, that guy! You aren’t one of his weird fans, huh? You got good taste, Neon.”

Neon laughed despite herself. “He just seems way too serious, you know? Talking to him at all is probably a real drag. I just don’t see the appeal.”

“God, right? Did you know he once tried to arrest me because he thought I was part of some shady organization?”

“...Jin, you  _ are _ part of a shady organization.” Neon thought back to Jin’s home life, still trying to accept that his family was...

“Well  _ yeah _ , but not the one he was accusing me of being part of.”

Neon snickered a little. Jin had been awfully intimidating when he’d first talked to her, but now just one night later, he was already so easy to talk to. “Well then, mister badboy--”

“If you call me that again, I’ll put a hit out on you, you know.”

“Oh, good  _ luck _ with that one.” It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since she’d died, and she was already joking about it. Not that Jin would know what was so funny, but that was just fine. “But really, I’m honestly not even sure where to start. I don’t even know where to begin looking for a...a murderer. All I know is it’s gotta be someone with a grudge against Shion, and...that’s not really all that much to go on, you know?” Jin took a turn away from the now-recognizable path to school, instead angling them deeper into the city, and Neon followed him. It was lucky that there wasn’t all that much foot traffic yet today, because trying to dodge people who couldn’t see her would have been a pain with him around. “I don’t think any of the other pros she’s fought would take one of her victories that personally, and...I don’t really know what the rest of her life looks like. She’s tried really hard to keep me away from it.”

Jin hesitated in his steps for just a second, almost stumbling over nothing, and he was silent for a long few seconds. “...Well,” he said, sounding oddly subdued, “there is an underground fighting club around here. Probably a lot of them, actually, but I can tell you about the one that--that my family sponsors.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something about what Neon had just said had thrown him off, although what it was that had done it was a mystery. So instead, she just said, “An  _ underground Buddyfighting club _ ? That sounds silly.”

“Hey, it’s a legit thing, you know? There’s quite a few gangs around that have started using cards in place of actual warfare, which I think is probably best for everyone involved.” Jin shrugged, as if he was just talking about the weather. “Each group has their fighter, carefully prepped, and then they either organize matches on their own time or use places like this club, which holds fairly regular tournaments. You pay the exorbitant entry fee, enter your fighter, and the winner of each match can choose to take the entry fee from who they defeat and leave them at the mercy of whatever criminal organization they’re part of for wasting that much time and cash. It’s pretty much a battle of life or death every single time.”

Neon didn’t know what to make of that. It still sounded kind of unreal, especially with how calmly Jin talked about it. It was a whole other world that she’d never even imagined existed. “You’re like, pulling my leg, right?”

“Why would I bother doing that? But anyways, if you want to find a veritable hive of people who’d be willing to murder over a card game, I know  _ exactly _ where you need to go.”

Jin changed their course, and with a flash, Yamigitsune appeared at his side. It was probably a lot easier to traverse the sketchier parts of the city with someone as intimidating as him around. “I mean, I...I appreciate you pointing out that this exists, but I really don’t think my sister would be getting involved with anything like that.”

Jin looked like he was about to say something, but then he just shrugged and didn’t say anything at all. In fact, they passed the rest of the walk in complete silence, not a single sound between them but Jin’s footsteps on the sidewalk. It was beyond awkward, but Neon didn’t really know what to say to break the silence--what was it about that topic that had put the easy-going Jin into such a cagey mood? It wasn’t as if he’d been secretive about the fact that his family had hands in criminal activities, and yet as soon as it had come to this club, he’d practically shut down. Somehow, it felt like the fact that he was even taking her to it meant more than he was saying.

So she just said nothing, and accepted it. It wasn’t like Jin, the crime lord’s son, hiding something was something completely unexpected. Even if they were something like friends now, they  _ had _ only met just last night. Prying would have been rude, and Neon wasn’t even sure what there was to ask about if she’d wanted to.

Instead, she stared around at the city. This was a part of it that she had never visited, and the building and people milling around it were unfamiliar. Although it wasn’t just that it was unfamiliar, but rather, the whole atmosphere of the area was different from the downtown area she generally kept to--here there were more business complexes and fewer people, more dark and heavy buildings and less glass and brightly colored signs. While abandoned storefronts weren’t exactly a rarity in the more trafficked parts of the city, there were entire buildings that were fenced off here, and those seemed to be the more lucky ones.

Jin led her to one of those abandoned buildings, stepping through an empty doorway, and his footsteps echoed through the empty space. It was nowhere near noon yet, but the interior still seemed so dark and gloomy, the sunlight somehow not quite making it in. It looked like it had been abandoned for a long time, probably as long as the club that apparently existed somewhere in it had been around, and the only thing really still in it was graffiti on the walls. The silence that had built between the two of them felt even worse in here, and Neon finally built up the nerve to say something.

“Um--” Her voice, unlike Jin’s footsteps, didn’t echo. “Why did you talk about that stuff so casually? Like...how people can get abandoned by the group they work for and…”

Jin stopped walking, and he looked around the room for a few seconds before turning back to her. “That’s just pretty normal for how my family operates its business. So I guess it’s probably more weird to you than to me.”

“I…” How was she supposed to say this? “I have noticed that you’re kind of...too calm about this, I guess. I wasn’t really going to ask about it, but...is the reason you’re just so calm and easygoing about my--um, a murder because of that?”

“Well, when you put it  _ that _ way...it is kind of odd, isn’t it?” Jin laughed, and it was his normal easygoing one again. “I mean, it makes sense that we have different views on things, right? We both got raised differently, and I know mine was pretty exceptionally different. I think it’s probably for the best that I’m like this, though, since if you’d gotten anyone else, they probably would have freaked out too much and called the cops, ruining your plan to keep your sister from finding out. So it all works out, see?”

“...I guess you’re right.”

“God, stop looking so gloomy. It’s not like I’m  _ complaining _ about it. Besides,” he said, looking a bit bashful as he rubbed the back of his neck, “I know I used to have that reputation for being pretty much a scumbag who valued money over everything else, and I’m not gonna pretend that wasn’t my family’s fault. But I’ve already figured that that’s pretty stupid, so you don’t need to worry about me, alright?”

“I--I wasn’t worried about you.” Neon paused. “Yes I was. Sorry.”

Jin laughed again, relaxing back into his sleazy self again. “Jeez, it’s  _ embarrassing _ if I’m more honest than you! I’ve got a reputation to keep up, alright?”

“Right, right. I got it.” And just like that, most of the weird awkwardness had cleared up between them. Jin really was an honest person, like Avalon had said. “Do you really think we’re going to find any clues here?”

“Honestly? No idea.” Jin turned and continued walking, leading Neon to a set of stairs near the back of the building that led down, and Yamigitsune and Avalon followed after them. “But it’s definitely a place to start, right?”

Neon followed him down the stairs, and at the bottom of the walls around the staircase were little emergency lights, the only proof that there was more to this building than met the eye. They went down by what felt like one level, turning corners, with the only light at all coming from the lights by the floor and the flashlight on Jin’s phone, and Neon couldn’t help feeling a bit creeped out by everything. She glanced to her right, where Avalon was floating by her, and reached out and took the dragon’s clawed hand in her own. Avalon tilted its head down to look at their now joined hands, and then back up to Neon, and then simply looked forward again, saying nothing about the gesture but not shaking her off, either.

At the bottom of the stairs, another floor or so down, was a pair of grimy double doors that looked like no one had ever bothered trying to clean them up. Jin grimaced, put one of his jacket sleeves over his hand, and pushed one of the doors open.

The area beyond the doors was like a world completely separate from the abandoned building. The floor transformed from dirty concrete to crimson carpet lined with gold patterns like loops and knots, and the walls seemed to reach higher than the ones outside the door, draped in something that looked like velvet, with wood panelling at the base. Jin stepped in without any hesitation, but Neon couldn’t figure out how something like this could exist underneath the building they’d been in.

She glanced over at Avalon--maybe this was some sort of cosmic joke? Maybe the abandoned building represented Neon’s life, and the fancy club that looked like the only people who could even breathe the air from it had to have a massive paycheck was a metaphor for heaven. Maybe that was it. But Avalon was unconcerned, and Yamigitsune wasn’t either, both of them following after Jin. Avalon stopped after the door and turned back to Neon, clearly waiting for her to come in as well, and...her feet feeling heavy, she stepped past the threshold into the club.

Avalon shut the door behind them with a heavy bang, and Neon looked around a little bit closer. There were light fixtures like little chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and what seemed to be genuine candles flickering away in them. How the place hadn’t burned down by now was a miracle.

The carpet under their feet had dulled the sounds of Jin’s footsteps, and it was a little bit heartening to Neon that the lack of her own no longer stuck out so obviously. Either that, or Jin had just died too by passing through that threshold, and now they were both ghosts.

The hallway they were in was a brief one, and soon enough it branched off in two other directions. Jin strolled along confidently, but Neon planted herself right at the center next to a different set of double doors and called after him, “Jin? Where are we going? And...where are we?”

“What? I told you, it’s a club. A pretty nice one too, as you can see.” He gestured further into the club, down a different hallway he was standing by. “That way to the arena. We’re on what’s not-so-affectionately known as the rich people side. Rest assured that if you tried to get in this way and didn’t have me walking with you, you’d have the whole of this place’s security falling right onto your head.”

“Is that hallway...to the stands, then? Are people fighting right now?”

“Of course not. It’s way too early in the day for that. Actually, we’re probably not going to see much of anyone around this early, but that just means it’s better for getting you used to what we’re doing. Do you want to see the arena or something?”

“Um…” Neon looked down. “Not really, I guess. Not yet.”

Jin’s footsteps might have been quieter on the carpet, but Neon still heard him walk back over to her. “What,” he said, an irritating note of teasing in his voice, “feeling too out of your league now that we’re somewhere that money talks louder than anything else?”

“I am not! I’ve been to fancy places with my sister sometimes! N-not often, but…”

“Listen, don’t worry about it. There’s not really anything in this place to be intimidated by here. In fact, we’re going to crossing over to the less fancy side of things soon enough, if you’ll just keep following me.”

“You say that, but…” Neon looked up again, feeling kind of silly about how uncomfortable she was. “I mean, the way you talked about the people who are going to be around here is…”

It would have been something to be seriously worried about if she hadn’t already been dead. She knew logically in her head that nothing bad could happen to her now, because the worst thing in the world already had, and no one else around here would probably even be able to see her, but it was still scary to think about trying to be around people like that. Even if they could see her, if they tried to do anything to her they’d just pass right through her, but…

“Listen, I  _ promise _ you don’t need to be worrying this much. You’ll plunge headfirst into a murder investigation, but then once we get to our maybe first lead, you’re getting cold feet?” Jin’s words were harsh, but it held that same tone of concern he had whenever he broached the topic of the investigation. “I’m the son of this club’s sponsor. Most likely we’re either going to just get ignored by anyone we come across for being a couple of brats, or me and  _ only _ me is going to have to deal with it if they’re pissed about something. And we’ve got Yamigitsune  _ and _ Avalon, so quit worrying already.”

“I...I guess you’re right. Yeah.” Neon looked at him and nodded, steeling herself. “Let’s go.”

“That’s the spirit!”

Jin turned again, and this time, Neon found it in her to follow him. But…

“Avalon,” she whispered to the dragon beside her, “can I hold your hand again?”

Avalon offered its claws again, and Jin snorted from in front of her. “Cute.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Yamigitsune said, laughing softly. “I’d tell you just how many times he’s asked me that same thing when he was younger, but I’ve lost count.”

“Wh--hey! Yamigitsune! You can’t just--just go around and--”

Neon laughed and took Avalon’s hand, while Yamigitsune snarked something else at Jin and offered his hand. Jin countered it and snatched up Yamigitsune’s hand, glowering at his buddy with a bright red blush on his face. There really wasn’t anything quite like longtime friends.

“Cute.” Neon said, trying not to laugh, and Jin glared at her.

“Sh-shut up! I’m cool! I’m tough! I’m just holding onto Yamigitsune so he doesn’t get lost!”

The club felt a little bit warmer and a little bit less scary now as they walked together, Neon and Jin both hand in hand with their buddies, teasing each other about what big softies they were. It really did make Neon feel a lot better, just being around friends like this. It made her miss her school friends a little bit, and she would definitely have to contact them as soon as she could, even if trying to instruct Avalon on how to use her phone would be a nightmare. Being dead was already a lonely thing, so she didn’t need to force herself into loneliness, right?

Even though...once what happened came to light, the conversations she had with them would be pretty scary.

The four of them descended down a staircase, and as soon as they had, the opulent club suddenly started seeming a bit dingy. The carpet was a bit more worn down, as if whoever took care of it didn’t bother cleaning it past that certain point, and even the decor seemed a bit muted. They’d probably passed from the section that the wealthier patrons could access into the more general area of the club. Really, Neon was wondering just how exactly the people running the club were supposed to be able to keep the sections separate when there didn’t actually seem to be anything separating the two, and there didn’t even seem to be any security cameras anywhere.

The hallway continued forward, passing another staircase down and another one up, and then they exited into a larger area, like some sort of common room. Jin pulled his hand away from Yamigitsune’s and shoved it into his pocket, probably because of the sudden very real threat of being seen by other people. There were lacquered tables arranged haphazardly by what looked like a bar--like, one with alcohol and a bartender and everything--and against the far wall was what looked like regular food stands like you’d see on the street, but were probably much better quality and  _ much _ more expensive. It almost made Neon thankful she couldn’t actually eat anymore.

Jin just slouched over into the nearest chair, and just like he’d said, there was hardly anyone around. The person behind the bar was sitting on a stool, flicking through their phone, and the food stands didn’t actually all have someone working at them. There were one or two people sitting around, proving that apparently sometimes it was too early in the morning for criminal deeds.

Neon observed the chairs warily, feeling almost threatened by what they represented. She couldn’t just pull one out and sit down, after all. Pretending to be alive was so  _ difficult _ . But she was luckily spared having to worry about that when Jin asked, “By the way, do you want anything to eat first? I noticed you didn’t eat anything earlier, so…”

“Oh, um, no, I’m fine. I--I don’t have much of an appetite right now, since…”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Jin stretched, and then leaned forward onto the table. “So, now that we’re here, how do you propose we go about looking for information about anyone who might’ve had a grudge against Shion?”

“I mean, it isn’t something we can just ask about, is it? Any one of these people could be the person who did it, and if you just go around asking really stupid questions like that, then you’d be the next one on their hit list.”

“ _ Hit list _ . That’s a good one.” Jin rolled his eyes. “But I mean, there’s probably some way for us to do this. We just--”

“Hey, are you talking about Shion?” The voice came from directly behind Neon, and she dodged to the side before whoever it was walked right through her. “Like, you're talking about  _ the _ Shion, right?”

“The one and only Kayazuki Shion? You know it!” Jin slapped a friendly grin on his face and directed it at the person who had interrupted them.

It was a girl, probably even a few years older than Jin, but still looking way too young to be in a place with a bar and slot machines like this. Or maybe it was just in how she dressed--head to toe, the girl was dressed in nothing but the color  _ pink _ . She wore a sports cap and track jacket--both in varying shades of pink--over a t-shirt and fluffy miniskirt in yet further different pinks, and even her striped socks and high top shoes were that same exact color. How she’d managed to find all of this, much less turn it into a coherent outfit, was an absolute mystery.

Riding on her shoulders was a small...dragon, yes, it had to be a dragon, with its little scaly hands holding onto the side of her hat to stay on. It had long horns spreading on either side of its head and dull grey wings, capped by dark armor. It hardly seemed a fitting partner for this blindingly pastel girl, but the two of them were obviously buddies.

“Yes! Are you a fan of hers too? Did you come here to see her?” The girl sat down in the chair Neon had been standing next to, and again she had to carefully step out of the way to avoid anything passing through her. But even more important than maintaining the charade of being alive was what the girl had said--Shion  _ fought _ down here? “Not that I even have to ask that, mister sponsor’s son.”

“Woah now, no need to start fighting dirty. It ain’t like I'm the one who told my parents to invest in a seedy club like this one.” Jin shrugged it off, as casual as casual could be. “Can't you at least introduce yourself before you start with the low blows?”

“Oh! Sorry, that was rude of me.” The girl smiled, not looking like she thought anything she had done was rude at all. “But if we're gonna be talking about Lady Xenon…” Xenon? Not Shion? “Then you can call me Yttrium!”

“Woah...an entire club member, talking to little old me?”

“I mean, how else, was I supposed to try and get a chance to fight her? Come on!”

Whatever they were talking about was flying right past Neon. The girl--Yttrium, apparently--was a member of this club. Probably one of the fighters. And...Shion was, too. And Jin knew about it.

Neon felt ice forming in the pit of her stomach. Jin had lied to her when she’d said she didn't think her sister would have anything to do with a place like this, or at least he hadn’t outright disagreed with her when she’d said that. And…

Her whole chest felt like it was collapsing in on herself, the floor falling away under her feet. Shion...had been participating in underground fights that people gambled on. That people were killed for losing. Her  _ sister _ .

Avalon squeezed her hand gently, sharp claws pricking against her skin. The look on her face must have been awful, if even Avalon had noticed how she was feeling without her saying anything about it.

No words accompanied the small gesture, but it still said enough. Don't worry right now. Even if...she is doing all of those things, letting her just get murdered for it wasn't acceptable. She could interrogate Jin after they'd finished shaking down this lead that had just dropped into their laps. She'd just have to start treating Jin as a lead too.

The two had continued talking, having clearly opened...some sort of friendship over Shion, despite the hostile first impression. But that wasn't what they'd come here for. “Jin,” Neon said softly, “don’t forget…”

“Oh! Right, right.” Jin turned back to Yttrium. “So, fellow Xenon fan… You wouldn't happen to know of anyone who especially hates her, would you?”

“Oh, sure, there’s--” Yttrium paused, and then narrowed her eyes, putting both of her hands--nails manicured in hot pink, of course--on the table. “That's a really weird question. Why do you want to know?”

“We've got some...information,” Jin said, treating this as conspiratorially as Neon had on their first meeting, “that implies someone’s got it out for her. We're just trying to figure out who exactly that someone might be, so that nothing bad befalls her. You know how it is.”

“Huh…” Yttrium nodded slowly. “Someone who hates her enough to want to kill her… You know, I think I  _ do _ know of someone who fits the bill.”

And then she stood up out of the chair and turned to leave.

“H-hey! Wait a second! You didn't tell us who!” Jin was out of his seat just as fast, almost trying to grab her before she escaped.

But Yttrium just whirled on her heels, grinning. “Why would I do that? You just gave  _ me _ the same information that she’s in danger, and I know something you don't! Don’t you think that means it should fall to  _ me _ to be the hero that swoops in and saves her? I’m  _ much _ better suited to it than you.”

Neon was just as speechless as Jin was, and Yttrium just casually waved goodbye to them--and then the little dragon smacked the side of her head. “Don’t be so rude,” it said, its voice so much softer and gentler than Yttrium’s was. “They offered you something, so you should offer something in return.”

Yttrium groaned overdramatically, rolling her eyes, and then lifted her arm to point at Jin. “Fine. I’ll tell you what I know, but only if you can beat me in a fight.”

“Like--like a fistfight, or--”

“A  _ Buddyfight _ , idiot. And only because my darling told me to, so don’t get it twisted, alright?” Yttrium paused. “Although I feel like I’d definitely be able to win if it  _ was _ a fistfight…”

“Wow, yeah, I don’t have my other bodyguard here, so let’s not. Do you wanna sit back down so we can get this started then, or…?”

Yttrium grinned, her eyes sparkling worryingly bright. “There’s no one around, and all the staff is bored...we’re gonna use the stage for this one! Maybe depending on my performance here I’ll score a place in the next club-sponsored tourney…”

“Oh, jeez.” Jin rolled his eyes. Yttrium was already walking off, talking to her buddy about this and that, going over to the bartender to, presumably, get permission to use the arena stage. “Looks like there’s no way around having to make a whole big deal about this, huh? But hey, are you doing okay, Neon? You pretty much shut up when that girl showed up.”

“Oh, um…” Now that focus was back on her, Neon didn’t know what to say. She wanted more than anything to grab Jin and force him to tell her everything he knew about the situation--about Shion and Xenon and the club and just exactly what was going on here, and whatever else he wasn’t telling her--but it wasn’t the right time for that. Her stomach felt like it was spinning in her gut, but she just forced a smile and said, “I wasn’t really sure what to say, and you seemed like you had a good handle on the situation.”

“God, _hardly_. She was so _pushy_.”

“Maybe that’s your own fault for not being pushy enough back?”

“That’s not my fault at all!”

“Hey!” Yttrium had returned, and she jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the bar. “Quit talkin’ to your monster friend. They totally gave us the a-okay! You are _mine_ , rich kid.”

“At least buy me dinner first,” Jin muttered under his breath, so quiet that Neon almost couldn’t hear it. “She’s not a monster, though. What kind of opinion of me do you  _ have _ if you think all my friends are monsters?”

“Honestly? Not a good one. Now come on, already!”

And Yttrium was off again, skirt flouncing as she walked back to the hallway that Jin and Neon had walked through to get here in the first place. Probably that was the way up to the arena, as well.

Jin just sighed again, and turned to Neon. “The way to the spectator stands is from the front,” he said, pointing in a different direction, “so you should go that way. And I--” There was a peculiar look on his face, something that looked like something approximating regret. “--I’ll tell you more about what Yttrium and I were talking about after the match, alright? I wish I had time to right now, but, well, fights to win, weird girls to crush.”

“...I understand.” What else was there to say to that?

Jin lingered uncomfortably for a little bit longer, before Yttrium came back out and yelled at him to get to the stage already. He tried to smile, failed, and just waved a little as he followed after her to the stage.

Alone with Avalon again, Neon fell silent again, stewing in her thoughts. Too many new things had just been dropped onto her, and for a few moments, she found herself wishing that she’d just died normally without ever finding this out about Shion.

“...Neon child.” Avalon’s voice was, as always, something like a port in a storm. “We should be going as well. It is important that we discover just exactly what this Yttrium knows.”

“I know that.” It was a short, curt answer, but she didn’t really feel like talking right now.

“Whatever your sister’s involvement, I am sure there is more to it than it seems on the surface.” Avalon just kept talking. “You said yourself that she aspires to be a shining star to those who look up to her. Surely that includes you as well. She won’t let you down.”

The words felt hollow, but Neon managed to muster up a smile for Avalon. “Thanks. Let’s go watch Jin get his butt kicked.”

They made their way to the stands, the entrance to which was right where Jin had said it would be, and there really wasn’t anyone else in attendance. At the very least that meant they could get good seats right at the front, even if Neon had to stand rather than try to sit and fall back through the seats themselves.

The two of them arrived just in time to see Yttrium hopping up onto her end of the stage, while Jin just sauntered up to his position casually.

“Are you sure we have to do this like this? We couldn’t just have a fight on a table and not have to do it where people could see?”

“I mean, sure, if you’re gonna be a weenie about it.”

“Wow. I will have you know, an insult like that just cannot stand.” Jin said it flatly, and Neon couldn’t help giggling from her ringside seat. “Well, fine. I guess we  _ did _ get it all set up for us…”

“That’s the spirit!”

Jin rolled his eyes. “A terrifying spectacle is about to begin! Luminize! Crazy Carnival, Dark Illusion!”

Yttrium pulled her deck case out of her pocket and threw it high into the air, catching it perfectly when it came back down. “A truly loving bond can move the world itself! Luminize, Vow of the Beloved!”

“Cute little chant. Are you playing that new flag? What’s it called, Div--”

“We fight for Darkness Dragon World!”

Whatever world Neon had been expecting from the bouncy, bubbly girl decked out exclusively in the color pink, it hadn’t been  _ that _ one. Maybe Legend World or even Magic World, sure, but...why  _ that _ world?

Jin just shrugged it off. “Not playing Ancient World like your idol Xenon, huh?”

“What about  _ you _ , Katana Worlder?”

Jin shrugged. “I fight for Katana World! And I will ever so kindly let the challenger have the first turn.”

Yttrium wordlessly examined her hand, and then looked back up at Jin. “I said if you win this match, I’ll tell you some extra special information about Xenon. But I’m super sure you of all people noticed I didn’t ask for anything if I won, right?”

“I’m glad someone doesn’t think I’m an idiot.”

“That’s because I don’t need anything! Your face when I finish beating you up is all I’ll need! It’d be good to put someone so high-and-mighty as this club’s investor’s kid in his place, y’know?” Yttrium held up a hand to the little dragon that had been sitting on her shoulders like a little kid and helped it down. Now that it was down and Neon could see it more clearly, it was kind of cute, even with its heavy, dark armor and too-long horns. Someone ( _ Gee, _ Neon thought,  _ I wonder who  _ that _ could’ve been _ ) had tied little pink ribbons onto them. Now that she could see it properly, the dragon did look like it was from Darkness Dragon World, although...the ribbons really clashed. “I  _ will _ take the first turn! Charge and draw! And...I pay one gauge to equip!”

The card she held up grew into the shape of a sword--and then kept growing and growing and growing, until the blade alone was taller than she was. The tip of the blade was dull, and it jammed into the ground through its sheer weight. “The Sword of Purgatory Knights Leader, Demios Sword!”

“Ah,” Jin said lightly, which really didn’t match the look of concern on his face.

“And I attack!” Yttrium had to stretch up to grab the hilt, but she pulled it up out of the ground effortlessly, as if it was just a toy, and bounded across the stage to stab Jin, who didn’t even bother trying to defend. His life ticked down to 8.

“Wow, actually,” Jin said as Yttrium bounded back to her position and shoved the sword into the ground again, “you know what, this fight like this was a good idea. A great one. Isn’t often I get to see the same deck used by more than one person.”

Same deck? As who? Neon was curious enough that she was going to stop pretending acting like she didn’t exist and was going to ask what that meant when Yttrium interrupted. “It’s  _ my _ deck! And don’t you forget it!”

“I doubt I’ll be able to. That your turn?”

“Yep!”

Jin sighed. “Then let’s go hard from the very start, shall we? Draw! Charge and draw! I call Premature Passing, Bibikawazu to the left.” A very delicate looking man flashed into existence, very well dressed in his dark yukata. Until a gross froggy tongue lolled out of his mouth. “Using his effect, I send Godly-speed, Natsubame and Demon kid, Hiunmaru from my deck to my drop zone. Next up, I set Return to the Underworld!”

“Oh boy, can’t wait for  _ that _ to get me.”

“With Return’s effect, I pay one gauge and call the Natsubame I just sent to my drop zone.” This time, he called something that looked almost like a bird. Dirty feathers clung to a naked skeleton, and an even dirtier yukata hid under those, hanging loosely. Maybe Jin needed better taste in monsters. “Natsubame’s effect lets me draw one card. Next, I Buddy Call Companion Katana of Magatsu, Yamigitsune to my center!”

At least Yamigitsune was familiar, and didn’t look quite as dead as his companions. It was kind of reassuring, actually, and Neon suddenly felt very grateful that Jin’s best friend wasn’t a walking, talking skeleton.

“You really are taking this seriously. What are you, scared?”

“Please, I haven’t even finished yet.  _ Then _ you can call me scared. I cast Demon Way, Jugonrensa! Plus one to my gauge, hand,  _ and _ life.”

Now it was Yttrium’s turn to roll her eyes. “Are you going to attack me yet? Let’s get on with it!”

Jin turned his head, hitting Neon with a look of pure exhaustion, and then turned back to his opponent. “I attack with Natsubame!”

“Nope!” Yttrium shoved a card out. “Black Dragon Shield! No attack, and plus one to my life! Better luck next time!”

“I attack with Bibikawazu.” This time the attack struck true, ticking Yttrium’s life back down to 10. “Yamigitsune’s effect! Blue Corpse Fire.”

Yamigitsune held up his hand, and a delicate blue flame flared to life in it. He blew on it, just barely, and it spiraled and wrapped around the frog man, destroying him in a burst. “When a Skull Warrior on my field deals damage, I can destroy it and force my opponent to discard a card! Pick wisely, y’know?”

“Wow, that’s such a jerk move!” But Yttrium complied, sending a card from her hand into oblivion.

“I know, right? I just love it! Now Yamigitsune attacks you himself.”

That attack passed freely too, knocking Yttrium down to 8 life, but she was still boundlessly confident, putting one hand back onto the huge sword beside her and the other on her hip. “Are you done yet?”

“Yeah, yeah. I end my turn, and Natsubame’s skill destroys him at the end of my turn.”

“My turn! Draw! Charge and draw! I pay two gauge and one life and call to the right Purgatory Knights, Death Sickle ‘Cavalry’!” An absolutely huge dragon appeared on her field--it was like some sort of awful centaur, with four long, equine legs that ended in sharp claws and a torso stacked on top with another two arms that held a huge scythe--no, that would have to be a sickle, right? White-scaled wings spread behind it, but it was so loaded down by armor that it couldn’t have possibly been able to fly with them. And under the armor, where it didn’t quite cover, it looked like...the scales were another color underneath. As if something had faded the color away to white wherever it could reach. “And to the left, I call Purgatory Knights, Needle Claw Dragon!”

Another faded-to-white dragon, clad in the same dark armor that all her knights seemed to wear. But this one was teeny tiny and scuttled around the field laughing to itself, a clear difference from the huge, silent beast on the other side of her field. “Looks like my darling hasn’t decided to grace you with his presence just yet. So I’ll do it this way instead! Needle Claw attacks Yamigitsune!”

To Neon, seeing her friend get turned to nothing by that attack was just a tiny bit disquieting, and Yamigitsune wasn’t even  _ her _ Buddy. How did other fighters do it?

“Next, Cavalry attacks you directly!”

“I cast Demon Way, Geppakugiri and destroy Death Sickle!” The great beast shattered before its blade could reach Jin, leaving him unharmed. An attack from that thing surely would have hurt.

“Oh, thank you!” Yttrium smiled at Jin, and it wasn’t even a faked one. “When Cavalry is destroyed, I get to add a size 2 or less Purgatory Knights from my drop zone to my hand, and the first time a Purgatory Knights on my field is destroyed by an attack during my attack phase, I get to draw a card from Demios Sword! Please try harder, okay?”

“I’m so sorry. I’ll be sure to finish you on my next turn, just for you.”

“That’s more like it! And I attack with Demios Sword!”

Again, she wielded the huge sword as if it was the size and weight of a stick she’d picked up off the ground, bringing Jin’s life down to 8. “That’s my turn.”

Jin exhaled, and finally looked like his chill and sleazy self again. “Draw. Charge and draw. I call Evil Eye Pupil Arts, Yamigitsune to the right, and with his skill I call Natsubame from my drop zone again! And, of course, I draw a card. To finish this frightening display, I activate Return to the Underworld’s skill, and call Hiunmaru to the left.” A new monster, and at least this one looked kind-of maybe alive. A former samurai, maybe. But were those horns or  _ tentacles _ on his head? “Hiunmaru’s skill adds one card to my gauge, and I equip Ninja Blade, Chirizakura.” A long katana appeared before him, and he snatched it out of the air. “Well? What do you think of my full display of horror?”

“I think you need to try a little bit harder than things that are almost dead to scare me.” Yttrium rocked back and forth on her heels. “I mean, that’s what my beloved Knights are too, y’know?”

“Dang. Let me check again once I’m done attacking. Natsubame attacks!”

“I’ll take it.” Yttrium’s life ticked down to 5. Jin was wearing her down, although what exactly Jin was so worried about with this deck wasn’t really clear yet.

“Next, Hiunmaru!”

“I cast! Assisted by my beloved knights, I will never fall. We Traverse the Blood-Soaked Demonic Path! Your attack is nullified, and I get an extra gauge!”

“Yamigitsune!”

“Endless Black!” Even as he moved, Yamigitsune’s shadow stayed in place, until it rushed towards him again and swallowed him up. “So sorry about your Buddy. You know how it is.”

Jin huffed. “Fine. First I use Chirizakura’s effect to destroy Natsubame, and then I attack with it!” He unsheathed the katana, which had a weird amount of...holes in the blade? “Know what’s great about this sword? I don’t have to move a bit to attack you with it.” He swung, and the blade split--into a bunch of tiny little shuriken, flying across the field and striking Yttrium, all the little pinpricks together knocking her life all the way down to 3. Like a bunch of boomerangs, the shuriken curved around the field and back to Jin, where they magically formed a blade again. “I end my turn, and Hiunmaru gets sent to my drop zone. That destruction lets me cast Demon Way, Arakuyou to draw three cards.”

“Okay,” Yttrium said, “that was pretty good. I won’t pretend to not appreciate something like that.”

“Ha! You see, ladies and gentlemen?” Jin spread his arms and turned to the empty stands. “I  _ can _ impress girls!”

The dragon standing by Yttrium took a squeaky step forward, but Yttrium just patted it on the head. “Moving on… I draw, and charge and draw.” She took a deep breath, inhaling and rising up onto her toes, and then exhaling and rocking back onto her heels. “It’s finally time for my darling to take to the stage...or once the stage has been properly set, at least. I cast Purgatory Knights, Blood Oath Formation! I draw a card, and for the duration of this turn, you can’t destroy any of my monsters with effects, or return them to my hand. Next, to the center I call Purgatory Knights, Necropalm Dragon!” This dragon looked more like a wizard than anything else, still as faded out as Yttrium’s other monsters. Neon hadn’t heard of the Purgatory Knights before, or maybe she had? But there was some sort of story to them, there had to be. “And finally finally _finally_ , I call my darling Buddy to the right! Purgatory Knights of Condolence, Geist Demios!”

The dragon at Yttrium’s side stepped out onto the field, flame wrapping around its small form and burning it away to reveal what he truly was--a huge dragon, much larger than anything else on her field, with those same dull white scales and same dull grey armor. Armor even weighed down his wings, but those looked too tattered and worn to be able to fly anyways. But there was a light in his eyes and confidence in his stance that even the huge Cavalry hadn’t had, the same kind of confidence that Yttrium held versus this club’s sponsor, a fighter who only avoided any major tournament wins to his name because he threw his fights for money. Under his helmet, two long horns grew on either side of its head, and tied to each one was...a really big pink bow.

It really didn’t fit, but then, nothing about Yttrium fit Darkness Dragon World.

“So you really  _ are _ Demios, huh?” Jin rested the tip of his katana on the ground and leaned onto it. “What are you doing back here? And with someone like her? She doesn’t really seem your type, big guy.”

Demios regarded him wordlessly, and when he finally spoke, it was with a voice as rich and smooth as dark chocolate. “Tell me, young one. Do you know the legend of the Purgatory Knights?”

“Uh, sort of. I think I got the SparkNotes version. You’re...originally from Dragon World, but with Darkness Dragon World becoming a bigger threat, you and the other Knights traveled to it to fight the menace at its source, right? You shut the door behind you and just never went back. But that was a really long time ago, right?”

“That is correct, in part. That is certainly the beginning of the tale. But I’m sure you know the next parts as well. The corruption that laces Darkness Dragon World is toxic to outsiders such as ourselves. Our scales and armor dulled as it wore away at us, and it was potent enough to even tear at our minds. For quite a long time, our minds were lost to us, merely warriors with no purpose than to hurt and kill, and we turned on each other, and we had already already cursed ourselves while still in Dragon World to never die, so that we could protect the world more effectively.” Demios tilted his head, and the pink ribbons fluttered by his face. “That is as far as most know. But time heals all wounds, even those of the mind. We are lucid now, clear minded of ourselves and of what we have become. We are outcasts to both worlds--Dragon World sees us as fallen heroes, perhaps, or as failures for not keeping ourselves together, and we have never belonged to Darkness Dragon World. Our purpose lost, we are simply bound together now by name, because there is nowhere else for us to go.”

Demios’s words were heavy, and Neon looked over at Jin, who had a grim look on his face. He’d clearly encountered this monster before, somehow. “Alright, cool story, but what does that have to do with that weirdo girl?”

Yttrium left the sword behind and skipped down onto Demios’s platform. “My darling Buddy is a little shy, so let me tell you instead! But I have a question for you too. Why do you think the Purgatory Knights went to Darkness Dragon World in the first place?”

“It was to protect Dragon World. We  _ just _ went over this.”

Yttrium rolled her eyes. “I mean, obviously. But c’mon, Jin. Think a little harder than that. Leaving your home, your friends, everything you’d ever known to go to another world and fighting to protect those things you abandoned, knowing that you wouldn’t ever be able to return? That’s more than just a desire to protect. It’s something so much more wonderful and profound than that!

“My darling Demios, and all of the Purgatory Knights, are motivated by a love so deep and powerful we could never understand it! It was love that led them to Darkness Dragon World, knowing exactly what would happen. It was for  _ love _ that they fought and suffered and refused to die. Can you imagine doing the same thing as them? Having that kind of conviction? Loving something so  _ much _ that you’d live lifetimes away from it, just so that it could stay safe?” Yttrium looked up at Demios and put a hand gently on one of his claws. “They  _ are _ heroes, and should be remembered like that. Not as dragons that had forsaken their world for glory, and not as warriors gone mad with rage and bloodlust. They are heroes who loved their world.”

Demios huffed, and gently moved the claw Yttrium was holding. A small gesture, but somehow it held all the same affection as Yttrium’s words did. “Maybe after being gone so long, they’ve forgotten that love! Maybe they don’t want to love Dragon World again, since it barely remembers them! Maybe they don’t belong there anymore and don’t belong in Darkness Dragon World either, but don’t you think the most important thing is that they could love like that in the first place? I want...I want to help them see that love again. Maybe not for either world, but at least for the Knights they’re part of.”

Demios gently lifted Yttrium into his paws, and put her back on her platform, next to the sword she wielded that held his name. “You knew my previous connection, young one. That was not a bond i entered willingly, but I protected that young knight with all I could, because I thought I had been given another chance to protect. That bond was unfortunately severed too easily, but I have judged this girl as...similar to us. It is not against the rules to forge more than one bond.”

“What he’s  _ saying _ ,” Yttrium chirped, “is we’re super in love!”

Demios’s sigh was heavy enough that Neon could hear it clearly from the stands.

“Wow,” Jin said after a few moments, “that was so cheesy I think I need to write a romance novel now.”

“You can’t joke about it! A love that isn’t romantic, isn’t familial, but still stronger than anything else you’ve ever felt before...don’t you feel exactly the same way for your own Buddy?”

“That’s a very personal question,” Jin countered, brushing her off with a non-answer, but the smile on his lips was one very different from his usual smug grin.

Yttrium grabbed the sword at her side again and pulled it from the ground, tossing it to Demios. “And now, with our very special bond, we’re going to beat you up! Entering battle! First up is the Needle Claw Dragon you so kindly left on my field!”

The giggling, skulking dragon sprang from its position on the side, cutting deeply into Jin, and with that and an attack by Necropalm Dragon, Jin’s life was shaved down to 5. “Next, Demios darling!”

“God, no! I pay one gauge and cast Art of Shadow Stitching, nullifying Demios’s attack and, more importantly,” Jin grinned, looking like he already had this match won, “preventing him from standing for the rest of this turn.”

Yttrium pouted. “Don’t be rude. But I guess you already know what Demios’s effect is, right?”

“Yeah. Destroy one of your own monsters and he can attack again.”

“So,” Yttrium said, “wouldn’t it suck if my darling had more effects than just that one?” The confidence drained out of Jin’s face almost instantly as Demios threw the huge sword back to Yttrium and she snagged it out of the air. “ _ My _ Demios is way stronger than you’ve ever seen him be!”

Demios spread his arms, and before him, three differently-colored flames appeared. “Blue, for life,” Yttrium said, gesturing at the one in Demios’s right hand. “Red, for love. And purple, for fortune. The blue flame represents the effect you already knew, the one where I can destroy a monster on my field to restand him. But the real show-stopper is going to be purple!”

Yttrium lifted the blade in her hand and leveled it at the dragon in her center. “I activate Geist Demios’s effect and destroy Necropalm Dragon. With Demios’s effect, I draw one card, with Demios Sword I draw another one, and when Necropalm is destroyed, I can call another Purgatory Knights monster from my drop zone! One gauge, top card of my deck into her soul! Come on, Purgatory Knights, Ringblade Dragon!”

In the wizard’s place was a dancer--or at least, she looked like a dancer, with her clothing that was barely more than thin straps of black leather that covered just enough that she wasn’t indecent. Which brought Neon’s mind into unpleasant places about the concept of dragon anatomy. 

“Ringblade attacks!”

Jin brought his arms up, but it wasn’t enough to protect his life from the dancer’s sharp and vicious moves.

“I destroy Ringblade with Demios’s effect and draw a card. Ringblade’s Soulguard revives her, and her extra special wonderful effect is that when a monster on my field is destroyed by an effect, she restands! Ringblade attacks again!”

His life dropped down to 3 and Jin grit his teeth.

“And...twice, I use Demios’s effect, destroying Ringblade and Needle Claw to draw two more cards. When Needle Claw is destroyed, I return it to my hand. And now, I get to attack!”

Again, there was no shield, and Neon could feel the sick feeling of dread building in the pit of her stomach. Jin was down to 1, and Yttrium had seven cards in her hand now. If Yttrium won this, they’d lose the first lead they had on who might’ve had a motive to be her killer. Even though Yttrium didn’t have anymore monsters that could attack on her field, with a hand like that, she’d almost certainly be able to defend through the entire next turn.

“Hey,” Jin said, sounding only almost like his usual confident self, “that’s it, right? You’re done now, right?”

“Oh, do you not want me to be done? Because I can continue.” From her hand, Yttrium raised a card, and that feeling of dread was almost enough to make Neon want to puke. Not that she could, anymore. “Counter call! I pay one gauge and call from my hand--a mere knight, not the commander we know. Not  _ yet _ , at least. Purgatory Knights, Demios Sword Early to center!”

This incarnation of Demios was...smaller. His armor didn’t look like it was supposed to be on a dragon that size. But his scales were still dulled away by whatever was corrupting Darkness Dragon World, so just how long had those Knights been locked away in that world, if even the young Demios was just as worn away as his older incarnation?

The two Demioses on the field locked eyes, and Neon wondered what it would be like to meet her future self.

“Demios Early attacks!”

“ _Cast!_ ” Jin’s voice was a lot stronger than Neon’s faith had been, and she was so relieved she shouted out for him. “Demon Way, Oborogenbu! The attack is nullified!”

“Boo. But it’s okay, I guess.” Yttrium turned her attention to Demios Early, and she smiled at him tenderly. “You’re going to grow into a wonderful hero. Don’t ever forget that.” The young dragon nodded at her, and she looked back up to Jin. “I use Geist Demios’s effect and destroy Demios Early to draw another card.”

A seven card hand, and an honestly intimidating 4 life. Breaking through that in one turn didn’t feel promising.

“I end my turn. Do your best on your turn, Jin!”

Jin took a deep breath and looked at his hand. “Alright. I draw, and charge and draw. Let’s start this party off right! I cast Raitan, Art of Stored Electricity!” Jin’s gauge immediately jumped up to six, and he grinned. “I call another Bibikawazu to my left, and with his effect, I put Undying, Benishojo and Lynx-Eyed Military Deviser, Keiganryu from my deck into my drop zone. Next, I activate Return to the Underworld’s effect and call Hiunmaru again to my right! Hiunmaru’s effect replaces that gauge I just used.” Jin took another deep breath. “Now, I call Benishojo from my drop zone to my center with his effect.”

“Can you get on with it so I can win already?”

“Hold on! The stage isn’t perfectly set yet. I cast Jugonrensa, giving me plus one to my gauge, hand, and life. And then I cast Demon Way, Kasumienran and Demon Way, Jigokuezo! Keiganryu is called from my drop zone over Bibikawazu, who goes into its soul! And all my size one Skull Warriors--” Jin gestured to Benishojo and Hiunmaru. “--are now size zero.

“Now, the stage is set for the fright of your life! I attack with Benishojo!”

“I cast Demonic Path and negate the attack!”

“Hiunmaru!”

“Midnight Shadow!”

“I activate Chirizakura’s skill twice, destroying both Hiunmaru and Benishojo, and I attack directly through my newly-cleared center area!”

“Black Dragon Shield!” Yttrium grinned. “My life increases by one!”

Jin took another deep breath. “Keiganryu attacks.”

“Come on!” Yttrium just spread her arms, welcoming the attack from the incoming monster. With Keiganryu’s three critical incoming, had she just given up on her shields?

“I activate my own effect.” Yttrium jerked her head towards who had spoken--the only monster left on her field, Geist Demios. “To reduce this damage by three, I destroy a monster on the field. That is, I destroy myself.”

The red flame in his hands flared, engulfing him, and Keiganryu’s strike did nothing. Yttrium’s life stayed at 5.

Yttrium...hadn’t been the one to use that effect. She’d been perfectly willing to forego destroying Demios to save herself. It was  _ Demios _ who had done it, in an attempt to protect his Buddy. With the red flame, the one that Yttrium said was love.

Neon glanced at Avalon. From her classmates and her sister, she’d heard all sorts of scary stories about Darkness Dragon World, that living skeletons walked around, that the monsters there were relentless and could stalk through shadows and strike even the wariest of fighters before they even knew the attacker was there. That the realm opposing Avalon’s Paradise could be found there. It was the kind of place that could be used as the setting for a horror movie, and probably would be, soon enough. It certainly wasn’t the kind of place she’d ever expected to see anything related to _love_.

But after hearing the legend of the Purgatory Knights, and seeing Demios sacrifice himself to protect Yttrium when she wasn’t willing to destroy him to save herself, Neon changed her mind.

“Keiganryu’s effect activates, allowing me to call a size one Skull Warrior from my drop zone! Return to the field, Evil Eye Pupil Arts, Yamigitsune, and with your effect, I also call Companion Katana of Magatsu, Yamigitsune! Pupil Arts attacks first, and I already know you can’t defend yourself anymore.” Yttrium scowled and held up her arms to block the blow, her life getting knocked down to 3. “My Companion’s skill activates, and I destroy Pupil Arts and force you to discard a card! And now Companion attacks!”

Another two damage, and Jin destroyed Companion with its own effect to force another discard. Both fighters hadn’t been quite able to finish things, both times leaving their opponent at one but--

“The stage is set for a glorious finale! Final Phase!” Jin raised a card, a vicious grin of victory on his face. “Demon Way, Karakurenai!”

But the look on Jin’s face was no match for the look on Yttrium’s. “ _ Counter Final! _ ”

Everything blinked to a stop. Jin’s movements, the last monster on his field, everything froze. But not Yttrium. She held the Demios Sword horizontally before her and ran one hand over the flat of the blade. “My darling Demios’s sacrifice won’t be in vain. Now, I get to show you the new power that the love that Demios and I--no, that  _ all _ the Purgatory Knights and I share has brought into existence! I cast Genocide Punisher!”

As she drew her hand over it, blade changed below it--it was transforming into an ornate blade decorated with gold filigree, yet still looking just as worn as the Demios Sword it used to be. Yttrium darted across the field and swung the blade down at Jin, who was still paused in the middle of his casting.

Jin’s life ticked up one.

“Wh--” Yttrium sputtered, and the blade in her hand faded away. “Hey! What just happened?!”

“Oh, please. Don’t you remember when I cast Demon Way, Kasumienran?” Jin looked about as smug as a snake that had just caught itself the fattest rat. “It has this wonderful effect. The next time I would receive damage this turn, it negates it, and instead I gain one life. And that just went off!”

Yttrium looked stunned. She looked down at her empty hands, and then back up at Jin.

“Oh, and since you didn’t defeat me just then, Karakurenai still resolves. You lose, lovergirl.”

Yttrium stared at him, even as their core gadgets declared the end of the match, as if she were the one that had been caught in the time-stopping effect of her card, and then she plopped herself down on the ground.

“Ugh! I  _ totally _ had you and everything! This sucks!”

“If it makes you feel any better, you really were worryingly close to beating me. I was all of a single spell away from losing.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Yttrium stood up again and sighed overdramatically, swinging her arms around limply. “So now I gotta tell you what you wanted, right? My darling would throw a fit if I went back on our terms, so…”

Yttrium’s voice dropped, soft enough that Neon couldn’t hear it from the stands, and she was kind of amazed that the almost painfully over-the-top girl could do that. But not being able to hear whatever juicy information had just been dropped was agonizing too--Neon knew perfectly well that even if she inched closer to the barrier between the stands and the stage she wouldn’t be able to hear anything, and Avalon had to grab her shoulders before she slipped through it entirely.

Jin nodded to her, probably thanking her, and did his usual casual wave goodbye to her before...just turning and leaving the stage without anymore ceremony to it. It had just been a business deal to him, Neon supposed, and it was probably about the same to Yttrium as well, even if she’d put so much emphasis on it the way she had. Her little dragon was with her again--Demios, wasn’t it?--and he patted her on the shoulder, and seemed to say something to her, and Yttrium looked up to the stands. Directly at Neon.

“What are you talking about, Demios? There’s no one up there.”

Neon took that as her cue to leave.

She scooted herself back out to the lobby as quickly as she could--although she still had her misgivings about Jin lying to her, she needed to know what he’d learned. She could confront him after that. At least the process of taking a deep breath still managed to settle her nerves, and she wasn’t particularly excited for having to do it, but…

“Hey, Neon!” Jin was already here. She waved at him, and he walked over to her. “Did you see me be totally cool back there?”

“If that’s what you wanna call it. Did you pick up on her slang over the course of that match?”

“What? Of course not. That’s like, totes ridics.” 

Neon rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help a little grin. If Jin was good at anything at all, it was at keeping things easygoing. It was admirable, honestly.

“So…” Neon stepped closer to him, enough that she would have elbowed him if she could.

“So?”

“So what did she say?”

“Oh! Right. She said to check out her match with someone called Arsenic, from about a month ago. If there’s anyone with a particular thing against Shion, it’d be that person in specific.”

“Arsenic...so there’s no way that’s their real name, is it?”

Jin shrugged. “This club insists on stage names, specifically to prevent things like grudge-based murder from happening.”

“Arsenic, Yttrium, Xenon...is there any reason for the theme? It’s kind of weird.”

“God, who  _ knows _ what runs through the owner’s head. I’ve never even seen them around before, and apparently they have an entire section of seating that they keep to themself.” Jin shrugged. “I've got a name along those lines too, since I'm technically an official member, but…”

They’d started walking towards the actual front entrance, which was just as lavish at the other one had been. Velvet hangings, candles flickering and throwing strange shadows across the walls, a pair of elegant but surely sturdy double doors. Jin reached out to push the door open but enough was enough. He touched the handle and Neon said, “Jin.”

“Yeah?”

“You...knew about my sister. And this place.”

Jin’s hand dropped. “Yeah. I did.”

“Why didn't you tell me?”

Jin didn't turn around, and Neon couldn't see what expression he was making. If he tried to make another joke, Neon would have yelled at him--he’d already knowingly trampled on her pride in her sister, and if he tried to pull that twice, she would have gladly broken off their newfound partnership, less than twenty-four hours after it had formed.

But he didn't make a joke, and he didn't try to shrug it off or wave the question away. He just said, “Here isn't really the best place to talk about it. You never know who's listening.”

Jin pushed the great double doors open, and all Neon could do was follow him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally, the plot thickens. this is the part where it becomes obvious that i'm taking inspiration from the edgy buddyfight spinoff manga (if you haven't read dark game chronicles you should! it's good!)
> 
> i probably won't be able to get the next chapter out nearly as quickly as i did this one, since as i said i already had a good 5000 words of this (the fight, actually) already written by the time i finished chapter 2! i'll do my best to get it out fast for all of you though, promise!
> 
> also, i've made some minor cosmetic changes to the first two chapters, and fixed up some card names that got localized differently to what the initial translations were, so if you happen to reread those and something seems a bit off, don't worry about it!


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